Asylum Butterfly
by BoomBoom31
Summary: /WILL BE FINISHED BY arashi wolf princess/ When Gaara is introduced into society again after being held captive in an insane asylum for most of his life, how will he deal with these seemingly new experiences, including highschool? /NejiGaa SasuNaru
1. Chapter Uno

It was brought to my attention that Gaara can't touch his scar when he's in a straight jacket...  
And that Tsunade doesn't have a Latin ending on her name...  
I fixed it!

:D

* * *

He was bored. 

And hot.

So he was bored and hot.

This is what Gaara decided as he sat in his white, undecorated room. He sighed. Maybe if they took this goddamned straight jacket off it wouldn't be so hot. Fuckers. He wasn't even insane. When he had been moved to his new "Happy Room" (as the caretakers psychotically called it), he had passed the time by counting the padded squares on the wall. He knew now that the room was 15x15x15 with a small window on the wall. The window was pathetic.

But now, he was bored out of his mind. He had already counted his own teeth (exactly 34), counted the freckles on his feet (there weren't very many- only three), tried to count how many red hairs he had on his head (key word: tried), and attempted to beat box for 15 minutes. He was out of things to do. And he was hot. He looked up to the SC (his ultra-cool-secret-code-name for Security Camera. Hey, he was bored, what else could he do for entertainment?)and glared. Dumbasses. Weren't they supposed to be monitoring him and the conditions of his room and shit like that? Apparently, they were on a coffee break. A two-hour coffee break. Fuckers.

Ugh.

He supposed he should be used to it now. He had been here since he was six and a half. Fuck yes he had been crazy, but for fucks sake! He wasn't like that anymore! What kind of family subjects their youngest son to this? Well, he knew why, but come on! Can you blame him? His mother died in childbirth and his father had blamed it on him. Gaara was born on Christmas morning. On Gaara's third birthday his father started to abuse him. His siblings- yes the maniacal Gaara had something as common as siblings- didn't do anything to stop their father. They were too scared of daddy dearest to do anything. After a few years of his fathers "care", Gaara had become a deranged little child. His scar could prove that.

He pondered about his angry red scar on his forehead. When he was about five years old, he had found a beautiful ornamental knife and ran to the bathroom. He sat in the sink facing the mirror, crying, wondering why nobody loved him. Then he got a sick and twisted idea. He had figured maybe they just forgot to love him, maybe if they were just reminded every time they saw him, they would love him. So he took his little treasure and carved the symbol for love on his forehead, making sure he was carving it in reverse in the mirror. He smiled faintly at his reflection, and touched the mirror, smearing blood on it in tiny little handprints. It was Christmas Eve.

At about the age of six, he was a quiet, sad, broken individual. He never talked, and he was usually hiding from his father. He never slept, because whenever he did he woke up bloody and scarred. He suspected his father. He had heavy black sleep-rings around his eyes by then. One day he had accidentally walked in on the family having breakfast. He wasn't supposed to do that, it made daddy sad to be reminded of mommy so early in the morning. His dad was already drinking. Before he could blink, his dad was on him, hitting him and screaming at him. Gaara scrambled away and yanked open the silverware drawer and grabbed the first sharp implement he could find. His father had already caught up to him. All Gaara did was turn around and stab him directly into his heart. It was Valentines Day.

His siblings, whom he now did not know the names of, locked him in a hall closet, fearing he would kill them as well. At that time they were eight years old (his sister) and a ten years old (his brother). They had also covered the bleeding corpse of their father in a black sheet, then promptly hid for two days. After the two days passed, a knock at the door was heard. His brother, trying to be brave, answered it, leaving his sister cowering under the bed. It turns out that his neighbor's had called the cops on their house because of the dead silence and the phone was being answered by crying children, then they were hung up on.

The second the police saw the slowly decaying body they were all taken into interrogation. Even Gaara. When his siblings were interrogated, all they had done was cry, but they got a disturbing answer from the youngest child there.

Flashback.

"Please, stay calm. What I am about to ask you may be upsetting, but please tell us the answer." The female cop said softly to the silent boy in the chair.

"What happened to your father and mother?"

"I killed them." Gaara said shortly, picking at his teddy bear.

"W-why?" The policewoman asked, taking a small step away from the disturbed child.

"I didn't mean to kill my Mommy. I didn't even know Mommy yet when I murdered Mommy. Mommy had time to give me my name before I killed Mommy. Daddy… I hate Daddy." Gaara explained, while playing with a small toy bear he had taken with him when he was found by the police.

"And… and why do you h-hate him?" The woman asked, trying to regain her composure in front of a six-year-old murderer.

"Daddy made me scared. Daddy made me cry. Daddy didn't do that to brother or sister. No, Daddy loved them. But not me. Daddy wouldn't remember to love me, even after I had given Daddy a reminder," At this, Gaara pointed to his forehead, which was congealed with crusty blood, "Daddy never loved me."

"I have one more question." The woman said, desperately wanting to leave, "Did he ever… hit you?"

"Yes. I think Daddy liked to do that, because Daddy did it a lot."

End flashback.

About two days later, he was sent to Kohona Mental Institution for the Severely Ill.

Gaara sighed.

Alright. He admits he was a disturbed little child. But he was over that! He would go insane again if they kept him in this stupid sanitarium for any longer. And he would like to inquire why the fuck was he supposed to wear a straight jacket!? He wasn't going to go flippin' nuts and kill himself on the _padded_ walls. Gah.

He went back to counting things.

The stitches in the padding, to be specific.

He was at 204 stitches when a tall man with messy black hair, warm eyes, white coat, and a small bandage covering the bridge of his nose stepped into his little hellhole.

"Gaara." He said softly, as if he would scare Gaara, "can you please walk with me to go see Dr. Tsunade?"

"Sir," Gaara replied in a mockingly sweet voice, "can you please turn the mother fucking AC on?"

The black-haired man was taken slightly aback. Wasn't this kid supposed to not talk and be all sad and depressed? Apparently, the rumors he heard about Gaara in the nurse's lounge were slightly off.

"I suppose it is warm in here, I'll see what I can do. Now please come with me."

Gaara fell silent and stood up from his cross-legged position on the floor, his gracefulness in a straight jacket worthy of a geisha's praise. They stopped in front of a bright yellow door with a small plaque attached to it.

"Dr. Tsunade is in there, please go in." he said, opening the door.

"Dr. Tsunade is written on the door. I'm insane, not retarded." Gaara bit out and walked through the door.

Inside was complete and utter chaos. Dr. Tsunade insisted on not having a desk, for unexplained reasons, so her papers and laptop were strewn across the floor (not that she actually worked, but whatever). On one side of her little floor "desk" was a very large, very comfy pile of multi-colored pillows (for patients) and a few pillows on "her side" for her to sit on. She was fuckin' nuts. She was a gambler and a drinker, and an excellent doctor, so she got away with many things, and she had extremely large boobs (which got 95 of the male nurses in trouble most of the time). Gaara sat on the massive pile of pillows opposite to Tsundae, who currently was typing away on her computer and playing with one blonde pigtail. She was probably playing World of Warcraft.

"Hello Red! How do you feel about going to school?" She said looking up at him, stopping her typing.

"Why?"

"I was thinking of sending your dumbass to school; with escorts of course."

"Why?"

"You need human interaction! Your 16! You need something to do! You've gotten much better than when you first came, and you and I both know that the only reason you wear that straight jacket is because it soothes the other patients- you scare the shit out of them! Sure, you're still a bit aggressive and defensive, but a small sedative can fix that! That's way better than you used to be! I thought you would have gathered that your progress was immense by your new room." Tsunade explained, irritated.

"My new room is a sanitarium." Gaara stated bluntly.

"What? Ugh. Stupid nurses. I said room 13 level _two_, not level _three_. And they wonder why I always run away from work. Okay, after this talk we'll get you moved into your new room! You must be excited. It's a level two room you can go to the library, cafeteria, and entertainment room."

"Joy." Gaara said, being the ever-sarcastic teenager he was, glaring at her full force.

"Alright Brat, just because your thong is uncomfortable doesn't mean you can take it out on me," Tsundae said, making Gaara glare even harder at her, "Now. Here's the run-down on the school you will be going to: It's called Kohona High. It's a small school, about 500 kids instead of the normal 700 or 1000. Your classes are mostly Advanced Placement-."

"Why?" Gaara interrupted.

"Because Gaara, most 16 year-olds don't think college-level trigonometry and calculus are easy. Most find Algebra difficult." Tsunade explained, slightly pissed at being interrupted.

"Why am I going to school if I don't need an education?" Gaara asked in an extremely annoyed fashion.

"You're socially inept. That's why." Tsundae snapped. Gaara's shoulders sagged under his little white jacket. Tsundae continued, "As I was saying… Your classes will be AP Math, AP Chemistry, AP History, AP Art, AP Poetry, AP English, Non-smart Japanese and Non-smart P.E. (that stands for Physical Education). Excited much?"

"I hate exercise." Gaara said pointedly.

"It's required. A besides, a little exercise will be good for your skinny ass." Tsundae teased.

"I thought I was a dumbass."

"You're both." Tsunade concluded.


	2. Chapter Duo

Gaara sat in his level two room with a very smug look on his face. All the stupid nurses that had put him here had been chewed out personally by Tsunade, while he watched. It was amusing. Not that Gaara would ever admit that he was amused, but, still the same, it was amusing.

His new room, in short, fuckin' rocked. He had a plastic covered mirror, a bed with rounded edges, and a small, rounded bedside table. Everything was still freaking off white, but hey, he couldn't complain, he just got out of a sanitarium! Life was good. Well, it would be better if they had taken this stupid, unnecessary straight jacket off!

In about 15 minutes he would be taken to his "new school". Fuck yes. He couldn't wait. He was so bored of this stupid asylum! He couldn't wait to get into that stupid van, take off this dumb thing, and stretch his arms! His door opened and he almost jumped for joy. Almost.

"Gaara, please follow me. Don't try anything." Snarled a woman coming through the door, adorning a white coat and an ugly scowl. She looked like she had a stick up her ass.

"Well, follow me. Don't just stand there!" She snapped at him. Scratch that. A spiked stick was shoved up her ass. He vaguely wondered who put it there, until he was yanked by his bounded arms out into a white hallway and outside to a white van. Did Mental Institutions have a fetish for white? White is the most insanity inducing color! Shade. Whatever.

He climbed into the car leaving mega bitch in the parking lot. There were two people in white coats inside. He recognized them as Nurse Anko and Nurse Baki. Anko was a very tomboyish person that yelled a lot and called people that she didn't like worms. Baki, was the most masculine thing alive, and covered half of his face so he wouldn't scare weak-minded patients- he had burn scars. Gaara promptly ordered them to take off his straight jacket, ignoring Anko's comment of 'Ooh… kinky!'

He stretched his arms to the side and up in the air as far as he could reach, enjoying his freedom of movement. He was wearing a blood red thermal shirt and solid black pants. His shoes were just simple black Doc Martins. They were heavy- considering he went barefoot for his entire life. After an eternity of driving, they pulled up to the school ten minutes before the bell rang. Gaara was handed a netted black backpack filled with a total of three notebooks, four books, and one mechanical pencil (with lead refills).

As he got out of the van, everyone in a 40-meter radius turned to stare at him. Well, anyone would stare if a kid at their school came out of a large white van with a large bold print on it saying "Kohona Mental Institution for the Severely Ill". Oh, and he had frightening dark circles around his eyes. And he had blood red hair. And he had cold, pupil-less green eyes. And the fact that he was followed shortly by two people in white coats was just slightly intimidating. Slightly.

As Gaara began to walk, the people parted like the red sea, and began to whisper in extremely loud voices… if it was possible to whisper loudly. The two people in white coats behind him laughed at the other kids' faces.

"Hey Moses. How you doin' on your first day of school?" Anko playfully asked Gaara, poking his head. Gaara blinked twice at Anko's antics; he knew she was just trying to make the other kids see that he was just a normal teenager. He just happened to be insane.

"Gaara, you're like… a Jedi! Use the force Gaara! Use the force!" Anko called to him. Gaara just stared at her. He had no idea what she was talking about.

"What's a 'Jed-eye'?" Gaara asked Anko staring blankly at her.

"That's right! You've never seen 'Star Wars' have you! A Jedi is this guy who kicks ass, fights with a glowy sword, and uses this force like to move stuff without touching it! It's like, the best move ever made. Technically it's a series." Anko explained to Gaara, who just nodded, regretting he asked.

"Are you two or twenty-two Anko?" Baki asked Anko in a taunting voice. Those two were like brother and sister, always arguing. They made good company for Gaara because he didn't have to talk, which he didn't particularly like doing. It also helped that they had been his nurses since he was admitted into the stupid asylum.

"Are a man or a woman Baki?" Anko mocked back at him. Baki winced. He didn't like jibes toward his masculinity. Gaara smirked at that particular jibe and continued to the front doors. However, before he could get there this yellow and orange _thing_ stepped in his way, well, more like was pushed in his way, but whatever.

"Uh… Hi! My name is Naruto Uzumaki! I um… erm… wanted to know your name!" The blonde boy said in a very loud, raspy voice. Gaara stared at him. Gaara found him to be… whimsical. He was wearing a very bright orange jacket that was open, revealing a plain black tee shirt, and baggy pants (which were the very same nauseating shade of orange his jacket was). He has three whisker-like scars on his face, and was slightly blushing as he put a hand behind his head.

"Gaara." The redhead replied.

"Huh?" Blondie said in a confused voice.

"Gaara. It's my name." Gaara said again, slightly more strained, as if he was talking to a total retard. Which, Gaara considered, wasn't very far from the truth by just looking at the boy.

"Gaara?" Naruto said, tasting his name, "That's a cool name! Uhm… I was wondering…" he cast a nervous look back a group of people staring at him intently, giving him cheesy thumbs up and overly large smiles, "Uhm… why did you come out of that van?" At this point, Gaara decided to have some fun with the blonde boy.

"Because. I'm severely insane." Gaara said in a serious tone. The Naruto-guy laughed nervously and took a step away from Gaara.

"Gaara! That wasn't very nice!" Anko yelled at him, smacking him upside the head, "Sorry about him. He's socially inept. He's just has some small issues that used to be massive issues. He's not dangerous if that's what you're asking!" Anko said ruffling Gaara's mess of hair, giving away private information like an idiot.

"Uhm… okay then! So what class do you have first Gaara?" Naruto said, turning his attention to the redhead that was rubbing his head where Anko hit him.

"I do not know. Now move. I need to get my schedule." The irritated boy said pushing past him going into the school with two toddlers-for-escorts following him.


	3. Chapter Trois

Dedicated to my first reviewer!  
;)

* * *

Where the fuck was his chemistry class? And he was positive Anko knew where this goddamned "Lab 4" was! She was laughing at his expense! Her shitty explanation was that he needed "human interaction", meaning not her or Baki. Damn nurses. So now he needed to find someone that knew where the AP Junior Year Chemistry Lab number 4 was! There was no way he would run into anyone that had that same exact class and was late by 20 minutes.

"Anko just tell me where the class is!" Gaara finally growled at her.

"No Gaara! Human interaction! Now go find someone!" She shot back at him, clearly enjoying this sadistic little game of hers. Gaara spun around and pinned the two with a filthy glare.

"I've killed before and I'll do it again. Now where is the mother fucking room!?" Gaara spat out at his two 'caretakers'.

"Look! There's a person! Talk to him!" Anko yelled pointing behind Gaara. Gaara turned around.

His breath caught. There was the most beautiful creature running around the corner, closely followed by two more people. The beautiful boy had long brunette hair down to his waist. It was a shame it was pulled back. He was tall. Well technically everyone was taller than Gaara, but that's not the point. His eyes were pure white, bleeding into lilac tones on the edges of them. Meaning they were abso-fucking-lutely sexy. He was wearing black shorts that almost covered his knees, and a plain white tee that was deliciously tight on the boy. His left arms and legs were bandaged up, giving him a balanced, yet unbalanced look to him.

The two other boys looked like they were closely related. One was taller than the two of them with a long ponytail and fringe around his face. He was also wearing the weirdest overcoat- black with little red clouds on it and a very high collar, it was open at the time, showing a black fishnet shirt and long black pants. The slightly smaller clone had an interesting hairstyle. The back of his hair was spiked up while he had let a good amount of fringe to frame his face. He was wearing white shorts, with white strips of cloth wrapped up his calves, two large wrist-coverings with small buckles on the blue trim, and a high-collared blue shirt. They both had charcoal black eyes.

The one that came around the corner first stopped running in front of Gaara and said in a hurried voice:

"If a crowd of ravenous girls come around the corner, we went that way." He panted pointing down a hallway. Now Gaara could see a faint green tattoo on the boy's forehead, two horizontal hooks pointing to an "X" positioned in the middle of his forehead. The boy signaled to the other two towards the lockers next to Gaara, Anko, and Baki.

"A-alright." Gaara stuttered, which he mentally kicked himself for immediately after, because Gaara never stutters. The three nodded to him. And before Gaara could blink, they all landed a solid kick to the handle of three lockers, which sprung open. Catching the doors, all three climbed in and smashed the lockers closed.

Gaara whipped his head to the corner that they came from as a huge crowd of girls came running around it, shouting.

"Hey! Red-head! Did you see three hotties run this way?" One yelled from the end of the hall. Gaara blinked looked at the hallway the three had indicated, and wordlessly pointed in that direction.

"Thanks!" One of the more psychotic girls yelled, going down that hallway. By the time their footsteps faded away, he knocked on the beautiful boy's locker.

"It's clear." Gaara stated to the locker. He felt stupid talking to a locker. A muffled "you sure?" came from the locker next to the one he knocked on.

"Yes." Anko stated from behind Gaara, who was slightly startled because he had forgotten his caretakers were there. Two of the three doors opened, one of them jiggled, and a large muffed "FUCK!" was heard from inside. The two that had stepped out (the weird over-coat guy and the beautiful one) stared in amusement at the rattling locker, which was now muttering obscenities.

"Gaara. Now's your chance! Ask these guys." Baki said, poking Gaara in the back of the head. Gaara blushed. Why did he have to ask these guys? He wasn't very good with this whole talking thing.

"Ask what?" The beautiful one asked. Gaara felt himself go pink.

"I… Um… Do you …I'm Gaara." Gaara blurted out.

The beautiful boy's eyebrow raised. The taller of the two snorted in amusement, and you could hear muffled laughter from the still closed locker.

"I'm Neji." The beautiful-boy-now-dubbed-Neji said in a cool voice.

"Itachi." Said the guy in the overcoat.

"Sasuke!" Yelled the locker. Itachi sighed and kicked the door open, in which the boy screamed from the inside.

"Warn me when you're gonna mother fucking do that!" Sasuke yelled picking out mirror fragments from his shiny black hair as he stepped out of his temporary prison. Turned out there was a magnetic mirror inside the locker door that shattered on him. Anko cleared her throat and looked pointedly at Gaara.

"Uhm… why were you running?" Gaara spit out at Neji. Damnit. This whole talking thing sucked! The boy in question blinked at the sudden statement and sighed.

"Those girls and a few boys…" Neji started, searching for the right words, "are our stalkers."

"They're crazy!" The boy dubbed Sasuke twitched, Neji nodded in agreement.

"Won't go away. Most of them had transferred into our classes. They distinctly remind me of bloodhounds. We can't get away." Itachi said absently, running his fingers through his fringe.

"Oh…" Gaara spoke softly.

"If that is all…" Neji said as their group brushed past Gaara.

"Wait." Gaara said spinning around, which was hard to do considering his legs had turned to jelly. Neji lifted his eyebrow at Gaara, which was all he needed for prompting.

"Where is AP Chem Lab 4?" At this Sasuke snorted.

"It's the door to your left, idiot. Considering your observation skills are you sure you're in Advanced Placement?"

"Yes. I'm sure. I'm probably smarter than you." Gaara spat at this obnoxious boy.

"Wanna bet?" Sasuke challenged.

"Not really." Gaara replied disinterestedly.

"Why you-!"

"Calm down Sasuke. Nothing good can come of this." Itachi said pinning his brother with a very disturbing look.

"Fuck off." Sasuke said, however he did just as his brother told him to. He took a long breath and stepped back. Neji shot his pale eyes to Gaara and shot him a look.

"Sorry." Gaara said to the other boy. He smiled inwardly as he felt Neji's glare lift off of him. Which he also immediately kicked himself for, Gaara did not live to please others!

"Hn." Sasuke grunted. At that, every one of the good-looking boys had turned and left.

"Did you just… apologize?" Anko said shaking her head in disbelief.

"Shut up." Gaara said stomping over to the door and yanking it open, secretly disturbed by his behavior.

"That's the Gaara we all know and fear!" Anko said cheerfully, following him into the room. Inside the room, everyone had turned their heads and stared at him.

"And you are?" The teacher asked with a slight edge to his voice.

"His name is Gaara." Anko answered for him, immediately not liking this teacher.

"I didn't ask you." The teacher said shortly. Anko glared at this bastard of a teacher and opened her mouth to speak, but before she could his voice cut her off.

"Introduce yourself to the class, Gaara." The man said in a low tone. He had long black hair, and yellow cat eyes that were surrounded by a large amount of purple make-up. His skin looked diseased and stretched.

"It is polite to introduce yourself first before asking others to do so." Gaara said shortly.

"I am Orochimaru-sensei. I don't like snotty children and my curriculum is excruciatingly hard. Now your turn." The man answered, licking his lips with a long purple tongue. Gaara turned to the students and sighed.

"My name is Gaara, I hate people and I can pass this class with a 100." Gaara said, turning his head to Orochimaru and giving him a small glare at the last "fact" about him.

"And who are your two shadows?" Orochimaru prompted, pointing to the two caretakers.

"They are here incase I get the urge to kill everyone." Gaara said directly to the teacher.

"Sit." He said sourly pointing to a chair next to a sleeping, pony-tailed individual. Gaara walked over to the seat and sat down with a dull thud. His caretakers walked to the back wall and just stood there.

"As I was saying…There are several factors which determine the rate of a specific reaction and those are expressed in the "collision theory" which states that for molecules to react, they must: Collide, have the right energy, and have the right geometry." Orochimaru started up again. Gaara promptly took out a notebook and begun to draw. He already knew Kinetics. So simple. It wasn't hard. And with that thought in his mind he began to doodle. After a large amount of time he caught his name being said.

"…Gaara-san?"

"Hm?" Gaara looked up at Orochimaru.

"I _said_ is it possible to determine the order of a reactant, and eventually the reaction rate, Gaara-san?" Orochimaru asked smugly. He knew that Gaara hadn't been listening. He was going to get it wrong!

"Yes. Using initial rate information which includes the concentration of the reactants and the rate at which the product is formed. If you double the concentration of reactant X and the rate increases by 2a, then the order of reactant X is "a". If you triple the concentration of reactant Y and the rate increases by 3b, then the order of Y is "b". For example, if you have a reaction with one reactant, A, and you double [A and the rate doubles, then the ratek[A1. If, instead, you double [A and the rate quadruples, the ratek[A2. If you double [A and the rate stays the same, then the ratek[A0. To find the rate constant, k, using initial rate information, just plug in one experiment's concentrations and rate into the rate law and solve." Gaara said monotonously. Orochimaru's eyes widened, and he promptly began to be in a pissy mood. Well that was Gaara's take on it.

"Well then. Seems like you're not completely useless in this class."

"Is that all?" Gaara asked his teacher in a scathing voice.

"For now." Orochimaru replied. After a few more minutes of mindless drivel spouting from the teachers mouth, the bell rung.

Gaara glanced at his schedule. AP Math. Fun.

"Anko, My next class is down this way." Gaara said walking down a hallway.

"How do you know that?" Baki asked.

"We ran by it 13 times looking for AP Chemistry." Gaara stated with a look that said 'you're-really-retarded-are-you-sure-you-have-a-Ph.D-in-science?'.

"Oh." Anko breathed.

They all settled into AP Math waiting for the teacher to arrive. Gaara sat next to a familiar sleeping boy with a pony-tail and a grey jacket with green accents on it. Gaara remembered that he sat next to this kid in Chemistry too. He briefly wondered what his name was before the teacher walked in. He was a large man with a small smile on his face. He had a scar on the bridge of his nose and his brown hair was pulled up into a pony-tail. What was it with long hair and guys at this school? Gaara pondered.

"Hello!" The smiling man said to his class.

"Hi Iruka-sensei." The entire class chanted back. The man sighed and placed all of his stuff on the desk in front of the room. He glanced around the room, and his eyes stopped on Gaara.

"It seems there's a new face. What's your name?" Iruka-sensei asked in a very polite tone. Gaara stood up next to his desk, with his left hand resting lightly on the desk.

"My name is Gaara. Anything else you would like to know?"

"Uhm… if you would like to tell us anything else, you're welcome to, if not, you may sit down." Iruka said in a tone that suggested that he say more. Gaara ignored the tone however and sat down. Iruka looked mildly disappointed before giving a small smile, his mood doing a one-eighty.

"I am Iruka Umino, Gaara. What all of you should be calling me is Umino-sensei. However, you all think otherwise. Now today we will be learning 'The polyhedron formula'!" Iruka looked positively giddy about it too. Gaara sighed. That one was easy too. Oh well, he sighed continuing his drawing from chemistry.

"Gaara-san?" Iruka asked interrupting his drawing.

"Yes?" Gaara asked, ready to answer anything this guy could throw at him.

"Can you come up and answer this problem on the board?" Gaara glanced at the very complicated graph and the question next to it, and nodded. The problem was simple enough. He walked up to the board and started to write. After about five minutes of writing a constant string of numbers letters and formulas, he had the number '5' written in a circle.

"Wow Gaara, We are halfway into the year and you already have a good grasp on what we've been learning!" Iruka said in a delighted tone before plucking the piece of chalk from Gaara's hand and ushering Gaara back to his seat. The entire class was staring at him now. Gaara inwardly groaned, now he had to fend off people asking for him to be his tutor. Damnit. They would flock to him like flies. Very annoying, buzzing flies. He briefly wondered if he owned a fly swatter. Very suddenly, the bell jolted Gaara from his thoughts of flies and tutoring.

"What class do we have to drag your ass into now Gaara?" Anko asked looking over his shoulder at his schedule.

"P.E." Gaara said with horror, which caused Anko and Baki to laugh at his expense.


	4. Chapter Four

I know I know... short and a cliffhanger.  
Sorry.

* * *

"I hate this." Gaara mumbled as he tried to cover himself up, failing miserably. The gym uniforms were not meant for people like Gaara. The shirt was too tight and the shorts were too short. Gaara was a light tinge of pink as well. His bright green shorts stopped at about mid-thigh, and his sickly yellow shirt with the school emblem accentuated his girly hips, which he wasn't very fond of. He was skinny and to top it all off he was short. He was shorter than almost everyone in the room, even most of the girls!- which he immediately felt sorry for as soon as they came out of the changing room. They had on what resembled underwear and a small tank top, both in the disgusting school colors. 

All in all there was about 40 people in the large gym. They were all clustered off in groups of 3's, 4's, and 5's, while Gaara stood in a corner all by himself in his little short-shorts. He spotted Anko and Baki on the bleachers laughing at him and eating mother fucking popcorn! They thought this was fucking funny! And where the hell did they get popcorn for fucks sake!?

"Who wears short-shorts? Gaara wears short-shorts!" Anko shouted from the bleachers in a kind of chant, causing Gaara to go an even darker shade of pink as everyone turned to look at him. He flipped Anko off and sat down on the floor, ignoring the stares he was receiving.

"HELLO MY STUDENTS OF YOUTH!" A very loud cheerful voice ran out in the gym, causing Gaara to wince. A collective sigh rung out through the gym, excluding one excited reply of:

"HELLO GAI-SENSEI! HOW ARE YOU THIS GLORIOUS MORNING?!" Oh wow. Gaara had to get a look of the retard that said that. He scanned the room and found the weirdo. He had a black-haired bowl cut and gigantic eyebrows. That's just not fair. Gaara didn't even have eyebrows but this guy gets a field of them.

"I am of the utmost health Lee-kun!" This Gai person said affectionately.

"That is a wonderful thing Gai-sensei!" The Lee kid replied with enthusiasm. Gaara wanted to vomit.

"How about we start off P.E. with a wonderful 10 laps around the track!?" Gai-sensei said to the group of teenagers standing around the gym. He put them in groups of five and started to send them onto the track. After a good majority of the class was running, Gaara was put in a group to run with.

"Red-headed youth! Come over here and meet your youthful running partners!" Gaara paled at the people in the group. It was the three boys he had met up with before and that blonde that was really annoying. Sighing he walked over to the group.

"Oh! Hi Gaara! I'm Naruto! Remember? We talked outside of school and stuff!" Naruto bounded up to him, grinning like an idiot. Gaara thought back to that moment and it was more like the blonde talking his ear off while he tried to get away. Itachi, Sasuke, and Neji pinned him with a look that said 'I'm-sorry-about-that.'.

"Sadly, I recall." Gaara said shortly. He was trying to play it off like this P.E. class was nothing, that he didn't feel naked, and that he actually had an ounce of endurance in his body. Fat chance.

"Hn. Lets go then. Loser, don't fall behind." Sasuke shot at the blonde boy, who bristled at being called a loser and took off after him. They all were running around the track, Gaara was good for about one lap, and then he started to lag behind. Fuck, he had to keep up! He was now about three feet behind them, and panting twice as hard as the others. God he hated this.

"You're breathing wrong. Try to breathe slower and not to pump your arms as much." Neji said to Gaara when he noticed Gaara's fatigue. Gaara gulped and nodded. He tried breathing slower and not pumping his arms all that much. It helped a little bit, but not much. Now he was about five feet behind the group, and he was only on the fifth lap! Sasuke and Naruto were about three feet ahead of the group practically sprinting, trying to get the upper hand on one another. Gaara briefly wondered if those two were dating before he was brought back to reality with a small tug on his wrist.

"Come on Gaara, don't fall behind." Neji said softly, tugging him up to only about a foot behind the group.

"Why… Why are you… helping… me?" Gaara questioned in between his pants for air. Neji sighed a bit and answered coolly:

"Gai-sensei makes a big deal out of teamwork. He doesn't like it when one person is left behind in the dust." Gaara felt a little disappointed at the explanation but shrugged it off.

"And," Neji continued, making Gaara perk up, "It would suck to be dead last, everyone would make fun of you. It's not the best feeling in the world." Gaara felt a little better about that reason. Neji wasn't helping him because he felt he had to! Gaara didn't know why he was happy at that, but he didn't question it.

"Oh… O… kay." Gaara panted out as he was pulled again, because he fell back a bit. At about the eighth lap, Gaara was ready to die. He half wanted Itachi just to randomly punch him in the face and knock him out and half wanted to finish so he could just show that he could do it. However he was very tempted by the first idea. He was pulled forward again.

Neji had kept a hand on his wrist to keep him from falling behind. His wrist felt really warm from Neji's hand, he had really never been touched like that before. In fact, he had never been touched by another human for this long. He felt extremely embarrassed by how such a simple touch could make him feel this content. He shook the feeling and kept running.

By the tenth lap, Neji was dragging him to the finish line. The only one behind Gaara was this extremely fat guy that was holding a bag of potato chips. Gaara was embarrassed beyond belief. Well at least he had beaten the fat guy. Gaara was bent over with his hands on his knees panting and gasping for breath.

"You're not used to this kind of thing are you?" A voice sounded above him. It was Itachi. Gaara shook his head back and forth wildly, before sitting down on his ass and leaning back on his hands with his head tilted to the sky.

"I… hate… running… and … exercise." Gaara panted out.

"Wow. You suck at this." A very loud, annoying blonde pointed out. Throwing Naruto a glare worthy of an Uchiha, Gaara closed his eyes and tried to regain his breath.

"Now my youthful ones! We shall have friendly sparring matches in honor of our fighting club winning the Regionals- thus spurring them on to Nationals!" An over excited voice boomed through the gym. Everyone slowly leaked over to the benches. Gaara attempted to sit next to his caretakers, but he was shooed away by the "human interaction!" thing. So he ended up in between an irate Sasuke and a noisy Naruto.

"I'm so going to kick your ass Sasuke!" Naruto yelled at Gaara's ear, attempting to talk to Sasuke.

"I'd like to see you try, Loser." Sasuke responded at a more comfortable decibel. Gaara growled.

"Shut up." Gaara shot at both of them. Sasuke snorted and Naruto ignored the comment altogether.

"Hey bastard! I'm so gonna beat you!" Gaara groaned and abruptly stood up, taking a seat at the end of their little group, next to Neji. The boy in question smirked in amusement and Gaara muttered a soft 'Oh be quiet.'

"Ah! Wondrous youthfuls! I shall pick opponents randomly from this list I have here! We won't get all of you flowering youths to fight in one day! Now remember, this is a sparring match! Try not to harm each other seriously in the prime of your youth!" Gai-sensei yelled out at the group of moody teens who really didn't give a damn about their 'springtime of youth'. Well excluding Lee. He's different. Like special different. Like drool on yourself, 2+2 equals 5 kind of special different.

Gaara sighed. He desperately hoped he wouldn't go up at all today. Things happened when he fought. He either got overly submissive, or overly violent- then promptly forgot what had happened later. Neither of which was good. He had put nurses in the hospital before, and he had given Tsundae the scare of her life when he had gone submissive. He curled up in the fetal position shaking for hours yelling 'Stop it! No!' when he got submissive. Tsundae had proclaimed that he was remembering his past excruciatingly vividly- which he had been (he gave brownie points to Tsundae for that one, he hadn't even said anything to her after about it).

It was a 50-50 toss up of getting violent or being submissive. He didn't like either choices. So he was hoping to whatever deity that was listening that he wouldn't get picked. However, on the flip side, people would actually notice him if he suddenly kicked someone's ass after failing miserably at running. Also Tsunade _did_ say that he was better…

"The first sparring match shall be between the glorious youthfuls: Gaara no Subaku and Neji Hyuuga!" Gaara mentally swore. This was a prime example why Gaara was Atheist. The gods either didn't exist or were fucking bastards.

Neji stood up and walked to the middle of the bright blue mat, Gaara following on shaky legs a few steps behind. Gaara gulped non-existant moisture from his throat. A loud shrill whistle sounded through the building. Neji immediately shifted his position to make himself lower on the ground, with his legs spread apart for balance. His arms were also spread apart in a sweeping motion, the back hand higher than the front. It kind of resembled a bow. Gaara felt somewhat stupid for just standing there with his arms crossed so he lifted his hands to a defensive position of his hands making fists infront of his upperbody. He still felt stupid, but less so when he was standing there like an idiot.

The second his hands went up to their position, Neji rushed forward with surprising speed. Neji immediately started of the fight with a constant flow of punches, which he was counting in fours under his breath. Neji moved in an odd way, he didn't attack with a fist, he attacked with two fingers. Gaara's blackened eyes widened in fear. He was hardly able to block these jabs! Speaking of which, Neji just landed a few solid hits to his chest and cuffed his ear a bit! When Neji's punches reached 64 he backed off and changed his stance.

For the first time Gaara could remember, he was scared. He stood there panting, bruised arms at his sides, eyes at half mast yet still full of fear, and wondering what the hell he was going to do. Gaara could feel it. He was going to snap any second.

Neji rushed forward with an open palm.

Neji's face melted into that of Gaara's father.

Gaara's green eyes widened, he doubled over clutching his head screaming 'Stop!' Neji halted inches from Gaara, and then backed away a few feet probably wondering what just happened.

* * *

Heehee.  
Anko's "Chant" is our co-ed soccer team's chant.  
Because they gave us uniforms from the frickin seventies.  
XD  
So when you want to cheer someone up, you yell "Who wears short sorts? Name wears short shorts!"  
It's fun. 


	5. Chapter Fumf

Uhh... I hope this satifys all of you guys.  
:)

* * *

Gaara stepped back a few steps, clutching his head, eyes screwed up in pain. His chest was heaving and he fell into a kneeling position. Gaara's eyes snapped open, revealing that his pupil-less eyes were dilating and getting bigger at random, as if trying to adjust to something that nobody could see.

"No… it's not real… Stop it! No! Stop! Ah… no, it's not… Ahh…Please stop it!" Gaara gasped out, trying to gain control of himself unsuccessfully. Gaara pitifully fell to the side into a fetal position, shaking and still clutching his head.

"Please stop… daddy." He whispered, shutting his eyes again.

"Gaara! Gaara! Are you alright? What is it? What are you remembering?" Anko yelled, pushing her way down the crowded bleachers. All she received for an answer was a stressed out moan of pain. She kneeled down to his side and checked his pulse, noting his erratic breathing, she deducted he had gone into shock from his visions.

"Baki! Get it ready!" Anko said sternly at her co-worker. Baki nodded and pulled out an acidic green vial from his pocket, loaded it onto a small, white, cylindrical implement with a needle on the end which he had taken from a sealed bag in his pocket as well. While he had done that Anko had gotten control of Gaara's arm and cleaned it with cotton dipped in alcohol. His arm was jerking and spasming, so she couldn't get a steady hold onto him.

"Anko! Make him still!" Baki barked at her. Anko looked around desperately. Her eyes landed on poor Neji who had no idea what the fuck was going on.

"You! Kid! Help me steady his arm!" She shouted at a reluctant Neji. He sighed and ran over to her, steadying the contorting boy's arm, feeling horrible about doing so. Gaara was still bucking and clutching his head with one hand, but his other arm was still. Baki held up the syringe to make sure it was the right medicine, before nodding and sinking the needle into Gaara's flesh and pumping the whole vial into him. Gaara stopped almost seconds after the dose was administered to him. Neji backed away, now that he wasn't needed. Standing up, Baki turned to the large audience of people on the bleachers.

"Attention all of you! This boy here is now in a stable condition. He just had a… uhm…a… a scare. That's it." Baki said stiffly, before turning to the boy who had already sat up and was rubbing his head. Soft, watery green eyes raised themselves to meet Anko's worried brown ones.

"What did I do? Who did I hurt?" Gaara breathed.

"You did nothing. Absolutly nothing. Nobody was hurt. I'm proud of you Gaara, for holding it off that long." Anko reassured him. Gaara's eyes closed in relief and let a tear slip out. Shaking his head, he stood up and on slow, lethargic legs he made his way over to Neji.

"Sorry about that. It wasn't your fault." Gaara sighed out. He turned on his heel and slowly made his way over to the bleachers. The crowd split around him when he sat down, creating a two foot wide bubble of space around him. Anko and Baki were quietly talking to Gai-sensei, who looked serious for once.

Gaara felt like kicking himself. He was foolish, he should have thrown in the towel before the match had even begun, but his male ego had gotten in the way. Damn ego. It was so big, it had its own fucking area code. Suddenly a very curious voice piped up in his ear, startling Gaara from his thoughts.

"Uhm… I know I don't know you very well and all… but… are you alright Gaara?" A very sweet blonde asked him, plopping right down next to him in his bubble. The crowd around him tensed as if Gaara would freak out and kick the bucket.

"I am fine. It has happened many times before." Gaara lied.

"You lie like a cheap Japanese watch!" Naruto yelled in his ear, smiling. Gaara snorted at the analogy, before turning serious again.

"But I am fine." Gaara argued with a tense edge to his rough voice. Naruto sensed that Gaara was going to get mad, so he just smiled and said 'that's good' in a soft voice before turning his attention to the three adults in the middle of the mat and an impatient Neji who was a few meters away from the conversing adults. Gai-sensei broke away from the group nodding and smiling.

"HELLO YOUTHFULS! Sorry about that! The winner of the match is Neji Hyuuga! The next match will be between the two wonderful youths…" And this is about where Gaara tuned out. What can you expect from a guy with mild ADD? Gaara's mind moved onto other topics- such as how he was going to become the freak of the school now that he practically had a seizure to those watching. This human interaction thing sucked. Why can't he just sit in his room and talk to himself? He was technically human, right? Gaara then realized that talking to himself would make him seem more insane, thus defeating the purpose. Well fuck. That was a complete circle.

"Hey." Gaara snapped out of his very circular thought process. He was beginning to recognize the smooth voice of Neji, it was quite distinctive now that he thought about it.

"Uhm… hi." Gaara mumbled. Can you talk about awkward? What were you supposed to say in this kind of situation?

"What are you even doing at this school?" Neji asked abruptly. Gaara winced at the question. His first day was going well. Cough. Sarcasm. Cough.

"I… erm…the people at the ... asylum think I-I… need 'human interaction'… because… well… I only talked to Anko before and… and everyone at the… place… I usually ignore. But I'm better than I was! I… I only get those… erm… small little things every once in a while." Gaara explained in a halting manner. Neji raised an eyebrow.

"'Small little things'?"

"Erm… yes. That's nothing really." Gaara explained in a humiliated voice. Gaara worried that after his little episode everyone would hate him. Gaara's worry must have shown on his face, because Neji responded to his thoughts rather than his words.

"Don't worry. Since you've been hanging out with us today, nobody will bother you."

"What do you mean?" Gaara asked, looking up at Neji with large watery eyes. Neji's face turned a slight pink before looking away.

"The Hyuuga and the Uchiha clans, have you ever heard of them?" Neji questioned.

"Uhm… Anko mentioned them before… Something about them being a very old and very important family. They start somewhere around the Edo era and they still exist today. Erm… modern day Hyuuga's and Uchiha's have very close ties, they marry into each others family a lot, they are extremely wealthy and… that's all I really know…" Gaara trailed off at the end of his little history lesson.

"You're extremely up-to-date on that. However the point is that I am of the Hyuuga clan, Sasuke and Itachi are of the Uchiha clan. So, if anyone messes with you, they are indirectly messing with the Hyuuga clan and Uchiha clan- which isn't a very smart thing to do." Neji explained to Gaara's wide eyes.

"What about the blonde idiot?" Gaara asked once he regained his composure, pointing at Naruto with his thumb.

"One of us asked if he could take him under our wing, protect him, you know? It is very rare we let others hang out with us, so accepting him was a big thing." Neji explained with a vague air to him. Gaara nodded, even though he kind of didn't understand. A plopping noise was heard behind the three.

"You explain everything so round about. I was waiting for 'destiny' to come into the conversation." A clipped voice stated behind them.

"Shut up. I won that debate anyway." Neji replied in an embarrassed tone.

"Yea, on the evidence of 'destiny'."

"Shut your mouth or I'll shut it for you."

"Hiyas Itachi!" A very delayed response was shouted, "That was a cool fight!" the clueless blonde continued, giving the stoic boy a smile.

"Hn." Itachi grunted, showing exactly where Sasuke got that particular habit from.

After a few moments, Sasuke joined them, causing an odd pink color to be displayed on Naruto's face. That's not obvious at all. After a while P.E. ended, the five showered and changed into normal length and colored clothes. At the end of the hall, Gaara split off from the group with Anko and Baki in tow.

"Where are you going?" Naruto asked curiously.

"AP Art."

"You're in AP classes!?" Naruto exclaimed, eyes bugging out.

"Yes. AP Math, Chemistry, History, Art, English, and Poetry." Gaara listed off shortly, looking bored. Neji and Itachi nodded and told Sasuke not to forget Naruto, who was standing there staring at Gaara in amazement. Sasuke sighed, a sigh that he knew he didn't really mean, before grabbing a small blonde by the arm and dragging him away. Itachi branched out from the group (he was in a grade above them all) to his class.

Gaara ambled into AP Art and sat down in the very last seat in the back, next to a large window. After the class filed in and sat there for twenty minutes, there teacher walked in, reading a little orange book with an age warning on the back. He was wearing a white button up shirt (un-tucked) that had a skin tight turtle neck under it that covered half of his face and ended in fingerless gloves. He had a black bandana covering his left eye, and his silvery hair was sticking out to the left. All in all, he was odd. And mother fucking late.

"Hello. I'm sorry. A black cat crossed my path. So I had to take the long way here." He explained in an extremely bored tone.

"Liar!" The class yelled at him simultaneously.

"Hn. New person. What's your name?" He said, ignoring the class' accusation.

"Gaara."

"Oh yes. The asylum one. I see." The man said in a bored tone. He continued in his bored tone, "I am Kakashi. I like teaching art because I don't have to do anything except give assignments. If you fail this class you are the biggest lazy ass I have ever met."

"Are you supposed to cuss?" Gaara asked, just to piss him off.

"Do you care?" Kakashi asked back.

"No."

"Then shut the fuck up." Kakashi responded, his eye curving up slightly, to show he was grinning. Gaara snorted in amusement. He figured he wasn't going to hate this teacher as much as his chemistry teacher. Kakashi said that it was a free drawing day, because he was too lazy to go and get the oil paints out of the other art room.

Gaara started to draw on a large white paper that was passed down to him. Gaara sighed as he drew a raccoon playing with a small cat. He was just finishing the shadows of the two little animals when the bell rung. Finishing the pencil sketch, he placed his work on the desk next to Kakashi's feet.

"Time for lunch Gaara!" Anko said, giving him a hot thermos from nowhere. Gaara gave a small thanks before heading to the "cafeteria". The cafeteria was more like a small valley. It was a large green depression in the earth that was littered with trees and a very small pond. Gaara stopped at the rim of the extremely small "valley" and he spotted a willow on the edge of a pond. He made his way down to the willow.

His hand reached out and brushed away the willow branches, revealing Neji, Naruto, Itachi, and Sasuke sitting in a circle talking.

"Oh! I'm sorry. I didn't know you were here. I'll just leave." Gaara said. He didn't want them to think he was fucking stalking them! This was just creepy. They were fucking everywhere!

"Oh no Gaara! You can sit next to me!" Naruto said enthusiastically patting the patch of ground next to him.

"Are you sure? I feel like I'm always barging in on you guys." Gaara asked in a softer than usual tone.

"Please. Sit." Neji said, pointing to the spot next to Naruto, which was next to him as well. Gaara nodded, leaving Anko and Baki to sit together a ways away from the tree, both sharing an iPod. Gaara sat down in the space between Neji and Naruto, across from Itachi and Sasuke, the younger of which was getting closer and closer to Naruto. Gaara opened his thermos and a delicious smell wafted through the little pocket of space.

"What is that?" Neji asked, leaning over to look at the dark liquid.

"Miso soup." Gaara answered shortly, taking a small sip, stealing a bit of seaweed from the broth.

"Smells good." Itachi commented, taking a small bite of beef and rice from a little plastic container he was holding in his hands. It smelled extremely spicy.

"It is." Gaara answered with a smirk, before taking another sip, licking his lips with a small pink tongue. Sasuke nodded agreeing with his brother, before taking a bite of a rice ball. Naruto, who had two empty cups of ramen at his feet, stared a Sasuke's treat longingly. After a few moments of being stared at, Sasuke sighed and handed it over to Naruto- who was giving him the full force puppy dog look. Naruto practically squealed, before munching on the treat.

"Are you two going out?" Gaara asked sipping his soup. Gaara almost laughed at their reactions. Sasuke went bright red and looked away from Naruto. The blonde boy choked on the treat that he was previously eating- red in the face as well. After they both calmed down (sort of), they yelled "NO!"

"You should." The red head stated shortly. Sasuke and Naruto sputtered for a moment before Naruto asked in a loud voice:

"What makes you say that!?"

"You compliment each other. Watching you is like watching sexual tension made into a movie. Your bickering has an endearing undertone, also you just fit. Sasuke is a bossy seme and Naruto is practically oozing uke." Gaara explained, taking small sips of his soup throughout his short explanation. Neji and Itachi snorted in amusement as they both turned bright red.

"I am so not uke!" Naruto finally blurted out.

"Yes you are." Gaara stated shortly- quieting the noisy blonde down.

"You're quiet perceptive for having the social skills of a rabid bear." Itachi stated to Gaara, pointing at him using his chopsticks. The boy in question just stared blankly before sipping his soup again. A particularly loud slurping noise was heard, and everyone turned to Neji who was drinking out of a styrofoam cup using a straw.

"What's that?" Gaara asked Neji

"A smoothie. Want some?" Neji offered the curious boy. Gaara tipped his head to the side before nodding. He took a small drink before his eyes widened and he clutched his head, putting the smoothie down.

"Holy shit!" Gaara exclaimed, holding his head. Neji, Itachi and Sasuke started to grin and Naruto started to laugh. Suddenly Anko burst through the braches asking if Gaara was alright.

"He… haha… he just has… hahaha… a brain-freeze!" Naruto giggled out, pointing at the smoothie now in Neji's hands. Anko laughed and told Gaara to press his tongue to the roof of his mouth before leaving. Gaara did as he was told, and the cold went away within seconds.

"Holy balls. What was that?" Gaara asked.

"A brain-freeze. You get them from drinking something cold fast." Neji explained with a small smile on his lips.

"Moron." Sasuke commented.

"Moron means 'baby' in Greek." Gaara said, listing off a random fact, easily deflecting the insult. Naruto busted out laughing asking 'Really?' in which Gaara responded with 'Really.'.

After a while, everyone had finished their food, and the four asked Gaara if he would like to hang out with them on the roof with them for the rest of the lunch period. Gaara refused, not wanting to follow them everywhere. The rest of the day flew by for Gaara. This was the best day of his entire life. Gaara sighed as the bell rang for the last time that day. Gaara didn't want to leave.

"Do I really have to go?" Gaara asked, looking up at Anko with watery green eyes, threatening to cry. Anko tried to resist the look, but she caved eventually. She smiled and told him that they would take him out to dinner before they went back. Gaara smiled. For the first time in three years. But then it was gone within the blink of an eye.

"Ever had pizza?" Anko asked smirking as her, Baki, and Gaara all walked to the large white van.

"You know what they feed me at the asylum. I almost want to request being fed via IV again." Gaara responded harshly. Anko brushed his violent tone off, she had heard it many times before.

"So lets go get your emo ass some pizza!" Anko yelled, starting up the van. Gaara wasn't even going to question what 'emo' was. He occupied himself by staring outside. He liked the outside. He rarely ever got to go outside, but when he did, it was great.

"Gaara? We're almost there!" Anko said cheerfully, but then promptly swore as she had to parallel park.

Two fender-benders and a car alarm later, they were parked. A blonde girl, who was cracking her gum, led them to a seat way in the back, next to the kitchen, and asked them what the wanted, cracking her gum again.

"We want an extra large apple, honey, onion, mozzarella, poppy seed, white crust pizza, with white sauce instead of red sauce!" Anko yelled before Baki could intervene.

"What do ya people want for drinks?" She asked after taking the odd order. Baki quickly jumped in.

"Three sodas!" The blonde nodded.

Baki and Anko bickered for a short time. The drinks and pizza were brought out after a few minutes.

"What is this?" Gaara asked, poking the slice that Anko placed on his plate.

"Pizza." Baki said, taking a large bite out of the weirdly topped pizza.

"It smells funny." Gaara stated, taking a small bite.

"Yea! But it tastes really good!" Anko said, cramming a slice in her mouth.

"Its… the best thing I've ever tasted." Gaara said, smiling inwardly, taking another small bite. After they all finished, Anko pulled Gaara over to the car, sticking Baki with the bill. When Baki got to the car, he insisted on driving because Anko couldn't get the car out of a parallel parked position to save her life. Gaara sighed as Baki helped him get strapped into a clean straight jacket, and then showed him to his new room.

For homework Gaara spoke into a microphone in his room and it was typed down somewhere else in the building. It took about 10 minutes. After doing so, Gaara did something he hadn't done since he was three.

Anko sighed as she went around the corner to check on Gaara who was probably still awake on his bed, making faces at the camera, amusing the security. She stepped into the room and nearly had an aneurism. Gaara was sound asleep on top of the covers on his bed. He had a rosy blush to his cheeks and was breathing evenly. Anko smiled softly at Gaara's sleeping form. She took off his shoes, placed him underneath the covers, and patted his head goodnight before leaving the room.

* * *

Yay!

I wrote some more!


	6. Chapter Sex

!shuffles in quietly!  
Sorry for the wait...  
Uhmm... Gaara is kinda out of character in this one.  
Sorry.

* * *

"Gaara!" Anko yelled opening Gaara's pressurized door with a hiss. The whole week he had fallen asleep on his own accord- due to the fact that he was exhausted by the end of each day. His body wasn't used to so much in one day. She was pleased. 

"Get up, up, up!"

"Shut your mouth or I'll break it." Gaara warned from under the sheets. He slowly lifted his body up using his abdominal muscles, because he was wearing that stupid jacket still.

"Gaara I'm so proud of you! You've been falling asleep all on your own this entire week!" Anko explained to Gaara, helping him out of his straight jacket.

"You're… fat." Gaara said shortly, not being able to come up with a good insult this early in the morning. Anko sighed. He was antisocial as always and not a morning person.

Gaara wore a long sleeve black shirt with a plain red tee over it and black jeans with black converse (Anko had bought them for him for his 14 birthday). Baki was sick today so the other nurse was an annoying pink hair individual that gave Gaara the urge to throttle her before she even opened her mouth.

"Hello Gaara! I'm covering for Baki! My name is Sakura!" She squealed in a very high pitched voice. Gaara glared at her for a very long time.

"I already hate you."

Sakura looked like she was about to cry- which she did when Gaara growled at her for staring at him.

"Play nice Gaara." Anko said in an amused voice.

"I'll play nice when Paris Hilton over there stops being fake." Cue Sakura bawling.

"Gaara!" Anko said, trying to console a hysterical Sakura.

"If she can't handle insults from a crazy person, then she doesn't deserve the job!" Gaara spat back. Anko glared at the red head in disapproval. However she was interrupted by Sakura speaking up.

"No. He's right Anko. I'm tougher than this." Sakura said, glaring at the red head as well. Her eyes were all red and puffy, her face was all blotchy, and she was hiccupping. It looked like she was hit by a truck, and Gaara told her so.

"Gaara." Anko warned.

"I only insult people who deserve it." Gaara reasoned with his nurse, who threw her hands up in the air in frustration, before dragging a depressed pink haired girl and an antisocial red head to the white van. Anko drove, listening to those two insult each other was exhausting.

"Brittney Spears impersonator!"

"Dummy!"

"Is that all?"

"Maybe!"

"You're dumber than you look."

"Shut up you immature pig!"

"Look who's talking."

"As far as I'm concerned you're just dumb!"

"As far as I'm concerned you're just a pink, plastic, five cent whore."

The sound of Sakura crying.

"Enough! We're here kids." Anko said, parking (thankfully not parallel parking) into a spot. As usual Neji, Itachi, Sasuke, and Naruto were waiting for him by the steps of the school. Gaara ran up to them, trying to escape Sakura.

"Get back here punk! I'm not finished with you yet!" Sakura yelled jumping out of the car, followed by an exasperated Anko.

"You were a Motel 6 mistake." Gaara said shortly when she caught up to him. Neji, Itachi, Sasuke, and Naruto's eyes widened.

"You're so mean! What did I ever do to you?" Sakura exclaimed.

"You were born."

"Antisocial brat!"

"Stupid Barbie doll."

"Argh!"

"You sound so eloquent when you do that."

"Gaara, stop that." Anko cut in.

"She started it." Gaara countered. Anko sighed.

"Who is she?" Naruto asked Gaara while he was busy trying not to throttle the pink haired individual.

"This transvestite?" Gaara asked, motioning to Sakura, "Baki got sick and they accidentally called a whore to take his place for the day." Neji, Itachi, and Sasuke all found this amusing, while Naruto frowned.

"Would it kill you to be nice to her?"

"Yes."

"No it wouldn't."

"Yes it would."

"No it wouldn't!"

"Yes... it would."

"You're impossible." Naruto said, feeling like committing suicide. Gaara just nodded.

"You're a tad over dressed aren't you?" Gaara commented, noticing what Neji was wearing, completely averting his attention to something else… Gaara blamed ADD. He was adorning a white, un-tucked button-up shirt with the top two buttons undone He also wore white dress pants and white shoes. His hair had a white tie in it and his normally black tassels in his hair were white.

"Felt like it." Stated the aforementioned boy offhandedly, turning a light shade of pink. A cough came from a certain black haired individual that sounded very much like 'liar'. Neji turned a darker shade of pink before smacking Sasuke upside the head.

"Speaking of clothes! Neji wanted to ask you something Gaara!" The ever subtle Naruto exclaimed. Itachi snorted at Naruto's clueless antics while Sasuke was trying to figure out how a question and clothes were related. Gaara turned to Neji giving him a look that asked 'well?'. Neji didn't speak. Gaara raised his non-existent eyebrow at the fidgeting Neji. Neji still didn't talk.

"_Talk_." Gaara prompted quite rudely.

"Alright! Alright!" Neji started, "Do you… Could you possibly… Do you want to go with myself, Itachi, Sasuke, and Naruto to dinner at my uncle's new restaurant? He wanted my friends and I to check it out for him." After spotting Anko and Sakura he tacked on a: 'by yourself.' Gaara turned to look at Anko for permission to go out. Anko looked sort of unsure, but she eventually nodded giving a condition.

"You can only go if you take a Medi-Pack. Got it?" Gaara nodded in understanding. Sasuke and his taller counterpart feigned indifference while Neji smiled and Naruto jumped for joy. Really. He did. It was slightly awkward.

After talking for a bit in front of the school, they all split up for their different morning classes. Gaara sighed. He really hated his AP Chemistry teacher. He was a half a bitch, half a pedophile. It was as if Michael Jackson had a baby with Paris Hilton and out came that. It was an unsightly combination. Gaara could never tell if Orochimaru was hitting on him or insulting him. Poor Sasuke. Orochimaru's favorite student was Sasuke, who had him for a normal Chemistry class second period. Every so often Orochimaru would "lean over" Sasuke to see his work, but really he was just copping a feel. Which was severely creepy. Severely. Creepy.

The bell scared Gaara out of his thoughts. Hmm… maybe he should pay a tad more attention to his surroundings. Sitting down at his seat in AP Math, he prepared for another boring lesson. Right before he took out his notebook however a low voice piped up next to him.

"Wanna play electronic Go?" The guy said sleepily setting down a small, flat screen with a Go board illuminated on it. Feeling that he had nothing better to do, Gaara agreed, taking the small pre-offered pencil-like object in his hand. The pony-tailed guy indicated that he should go first before going after Gaara. After a bit, the odd guy introduced himself.

"I'm Shikamaru Nara."

"Gaara no Subaku."

"You're in my Chem class, right?" Shikamaru asked, surrounding a whole mess of Gaara's pieces on the board. Gaara swore softly before answering.

"Yea. I sit right next to you actually. You are always asleep, how did you know I was in your class?" Gaara asked, smirking as he electronically placed a piece on the board.

"My friend Choji told me, he sits behind you." Shikamaru said, countering Gaara's move and in the process taking twelve of Gaara's pieces. Gaara was about to throttle the boy, Shikamaru was going to beat him horribly at this rate.

"The guy that sits behind me eating potato chips the whole class?" Gaara questioned, swearing as he lost.

"Yea. That's him. He's been my best friend since kindergarden." Shikamaru sighed, restarting the game. But before they could finish their second game, the bell rung, signaling hell for Gaara. Gaara said goodbye to Shikamaru before trudging to the changing rooms.

* * *

DUN DUN DUUUUUUN.  
Shika Shika appears!  
:O 


	7. Chapter Sette

CHAPTER SEVEN HAS BEEN EDITED.  
IT IS LONGER.  
Enjoy

* * *

Gaara always changed in the stalls. He didn't want anyone to see exactly how many scars he had, or how skinny he was. Sure everyone made fun of him and called him a pansy for changing in the stalls, but who the fuck cared about what they thought about Gaara? So today he grabbed his revealing uniform and went into one of the stalls. Now you have to understand something about these stalls in particular. All of the locks were broken. It was as if someone had come charging into the changing room, yelling and beating the shit out of stalls and lockers as if they were the bane of his existence. It was peculiar. And irritating. But nevertheless they were all broken. Gaara always feared that someone would come bursting in while he was in the middle of changing. So this whole 'changing into strippe- …gym clothes' was stressful.

Gaara tried to secure the stall door before he started to change, ignoring the normal 'pansy', 'woman', and other encouraging words hurled at him from some of the guys. Usually they just leave it at that. But today was not Gaara's lucky day. In the middle of changing, the door swung open to reveal a rather large guy asking in a loud voice 'can I borrow a tam…pon?' The last word dropping into a whisper as he spotted Gaara's half exposed body.

Crisscrossing on his back and torso were very deep scars interrupting sickly pale skin. One scar in particular was extremely gruesome. It was the word 'murderer' carved into his lower back- obviously not done by Gaara. It was a vicious red and slightly raised off of the skin… a burn scar.

"Dude… what the fuck?" the rather large, obnoxious boy asked, taking a step back. Gaara yelped as he was brought out of shock and flew backwards, trying to cover his chest with his almost scar-free arms. His arms only had a few scars, nothing that would raise suspicion. He spotted Neji looking curiously over at him. Neji's eyes widened in surprise and shock, before he turned away, pretending he didn't see.

"Go away! Close the mother fucking door!" Gaara yelled, trying to yank the door out of the large guy's hand. The door didn't move, reminding Gaara of his size in comparison to the jackass who opened the door. By now the whole changing room was staring at Gaara. Growling, Gaara kicked the dumb ass as hard as he could in the shin. It worked. The guy yelped and grabbed his shin in pain, letting go of the door. Gaara grabbed the door and held it shut, putting his weight on it as well.

Fuck. Gaara was in deep shit. Goddamn punk and his sarcasm… So now, not only was he severely instable and insane… he was the poor pity-sympathy basketcase that needed to be fixed. Just great. He got enough of that at the stupid asylum. He listened as he heard the whispering boys file out of the room. After a few moments there was a dead silence in the changing room.

"Shit!" He yelled, loud enough to cause his throat to go raw, and making it echo in the tiled room. His body shook as he broke down, sliding down the door, letting go of it. The door slowly creaked open, leaving the bathroom stall open, revealing a small boy, clutching his bare shoulders sitting cross-legged on the cold tiled floor, shivering.

"Nothings wrong… I'm not different… I'm the same… the same. The same." Gaara started to mutter to himself.

"…Gaara?" A smooth voice asked from above. Gaara gasped and looked up. It was Neji. Gaara inwardly whimpered. Neji was the last person that he wanted to see his scars. Gaara wished to show Neji his strengths, not his weaknesses. Neji was the first person that ever spoke to him… Naruto doesn't count. Gaara admitted, yes he liked this boy, but he wasn't gong to do anything about it- he didn't even know if Neji liked boys. But he did know that his scars weren't normal, and he didn't like to share.

"Don't… don't look at me." Gaara said softly, looking down.

"Who?" Neji questioned, looking down at his friend.

"Nobody."

"That's a lie Gaara! Who?" Neji spat out, mad that his friend would lie to him like

that. He had asked the group if they could hold the same service that they had for Naruto, protection, love, all that jazz, for Gaara. Neji wanted to protect this boy. And he couldn't do that if Gaara was lying to his face.

"It was nobody! Nobody! He was nobody!" Gaara yelled, sounding more like he was trying to convince himself rather than Neji. The brunette sighed, knowing this wasn't going anywhere. That doesn't mean he was going to drop the issue, it just meant the subject was close for now. He grabbed the red head's shoulders, pulling him to his feet. Gaara's head was resting against his chest, his feet limp on the floor- he was simply dead weight.

Neji blew his hair out of his face in frustration. Did Gaara need to be so broken up about it? They were just scars! He shook the boys shoulders roughly. He knew this wasn't the best course of action, but Neji was desperate to get Gaara back to being his normal, introverted, sarcastic self-- not this poor, shivering bundle of nerves.

"Get a hold of yourself! I'm sure nobody even noticed them! It's dark in the stalls! Jesus Christ! I'll tell you what, if anyone says anything I'll punch them in the face. I hate it when you're sad, Gaara. Please look at me." Gaara looked up at Neji with wide watery green eyes. His face started to stretch in a very unfamiliar pattern to him. Halfway through accomplishing this odd reaction, Gaara realized that he was smiling, and stopped himself. But it was enough for Neji. It was just a small upturn of the corners of his lips…even though it was barely there, he was still smiling. Gaara placed his feet firmly on the floor and placed a hand on an arm holding his shoulder.

"Thank you. I, I needed that. Now," Gaara said, trying to turn the mood from depressed to playful, "what are the chances that I can use this to get out of P.E.?" Neji's eyes widened at the sudden change, but eventually snorted and replied 'like I'd let you.', before throwing Gaara's shirt at him telling him to make himself half-decent. Gaara hid his happiness at the change in mood as he pulled the shirt over his head and chased Neji out of the changing rooms and into the gym.

Even though everyone was whispering and pointing at him, Gaara treated it as white noise and tried to get through P.E. with his …friends? Exercise was always taxing on him. He didn't really ever get out and exercise in the asylum. In fact, after he had collapsed after school on his first day, they had to give him an energy booster and a supplement so he wouldn't be so exhausted by the end of the day.

Gaara panted heavily as he ran with his friends. Ever since Gaara had ran with him, Neji would hold his hand so he wouldn't fall behind. Gaara loved every moment f contact. It was strange, when he was in the halls, he hated it when people bumped into him or touched him; but if he was in an isolated group (like with Neji or Anko) he had always craved for their touch. He didn't know why, but he craved it so desperately he had caught himself on several occasions 'tripping' just so he could fall onto, or hold someone for 'stability'. Everyone probably thought him to be a klutz. Gaara paused on his train of thoughts due to the fact that they were now lining up on the side of the hall.

"Alright students of youth! Time for a wonderful, and youthful character building game! I present to you, Dodge Ball of _youth_!" Gai-sensei yelled excitedly, lifting up a bright red ball. Gaara gulped.

"Oh shit." Gaara said, loud and clear into the silent gym, which immediately caused a round of laughter to go by. However, these laughs fell upon deaf ears. Gaara was mentally preparing himself for public humiliation.

"Alright! The two youthful captains are… Tal Higasaki, and… Ayame Ichikaru! Yosh!" The two mentioned rose up from the bleachers with exaggerated tiredness. The two stood up by Gai-sensei and sighed before they pointed at random people to be on their team. Since the class was so big, they did it by rotation. The first five up would start, then when someone got out they were replaced by one of the team members that hadn't played. Once you were hit, you couldn't go back into the rotation, however to stop kids from getting out just to sit and do nothing, you had to do push-ups till the end of class once you got out. To Gaara, this plan was satanic. He was going to get out the second he stepped in.

Gaara turned out to be on Ayame's team with Naruto, who immediately bounced up to him

"Hey Tony! I like the things you dooooo! Hey Tony! If I could I would be you! The one and only tiger! The one and only taste! You make a breakfast from good to GREEEEEEEEEEEEAT!" An obnoxious sing-song voice rang out as a loud blonde flung himself at Gaara. Gaara raised his eyebrow and pried the clingy blonde from his form. About halfway through the song, the two were joined by the rest of the group, who had been picked via peer pressure.

"What? You look like a tiger because of the marks on your chest!" Naruto said tactlessly when he noticed Gaara's puzzled face. Neji did a face-palm. Sasuke and Itachi did an anime fall. Gaara's aura just darkened a few shades.

"Who is this 'Tony' you seem to know so well, and what does it have to do with a tiger?" Gaara asked pointedly. Naruto gasped loudly and covered his mouth in feinted shock. Drama Queen.

"You don't know who Tony the Tiger is?" He gasped out in horror.

"No."

"It's a cartoon tiger that is the mascot of a crappy children's cereal." Neji supplied sighing at Naruto's antics. Gaara just shook his head. He was tired of things being referred to that he had no idea about, yet it seemed like universal knowledge to everyone around him.

"It is not a crappy cereal! It is god in an obnoxious blue box! Well I'd be more like Jesus because Ramen is god… so Frosted Flakes is kinda like the son of Ramen… in divine terms that is." Naruto objected (read: ranted).

"Did you just compare Jesus to Frosted Flakes?" Itachi asked, raising his eyebrow.

"Well duh!" Naruto yelled back enthusiastically.

"Did you forget to take your Ritalin today?" Sasuke questioned.

"I never forget!"

However before that subject could be thoroughly explored, Gai-sensei blew the whistle and the first round started. Gaara and the rest of the group had been put in the rotation reserves, so they were just standing, watching the game. Gaara winced as one kid was hit in the face and he flew three feet backwards on his ass and skidded another four. The kid scrambled off the court to go do push-ups, holding his nose tenderly. Gaara really didn't want to play. Maybe he could pull a fake seizure or something and get excused from the game. He decided to try it.

"Oh!" he yelled, clutching his chest, making his eyes spaz. He bent his knees inward and started twitching dramatically, "The… pain! No! Ahhh!" Gaara gasped out with a flourish, decorating his performance with some drool. "Save me!" He knew that his caretakers could tell he was faking it, but that wasn't the point if Gai-sensei bought it, he was free.

"What the fuck are you doing?" Neji asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Shh!" Gaara shushed him, still trying to look convincing.

"Ahhh! Dizzy… can't stand… anymore. Must… not play… dodge ball…" Gaara pretended to gasp out. However, before he could finish his little scene, a bright red ball hit him square in the chest. He yelped, rubbing the little sore spot the ball had created.

"Gaara! Stop that nonsense and pay attention! You do not want to miss this youthful event!" Gaara growled in response. Apparently, he wasn't a very good actor.

"Ahh, damnit." He muttered, wiping the drool from his chin, and straightening his posture. He sighed, it seemed he would have to play anyway.

"Oh! That's what you were doing!" Itachi said, his face brightening up, "I didn't know what you were trying to do. You're a pretty shitty actor, you know that right?"

"Oh, shut up." Gaara's eyes widened as he realized he was next if someone got out. However, right before he had to run in, the bell rung and Gaara wanted to kill something.

"I faked a seizure for _nothing_?!" He yelled, stomping his foot. He growled and made his way to the changing rooms. Nobody bothered Gaara when he went into his stall to change back into his clothes, which Gaara supposed he should take as a positive thing, but he still didn't like that it had to come about by him being violated in a stall. Well that's what he referred to it as.

Art was next for him, so he started to make his way through the maze of people that he was slowly becoming accustomed to, even though he didn't like to be touched all that much. And being in a crowed hallway filled with teenagers that don't give a shit, you tend to get jarred around a bit. And especially after today's incident, he was a little jumpy.

Sighing, Gaara sat in his seat and waited for his perverted art teacher to make an appearance.

Gaara fell into his thoughts after waiting with no results for a total of three minutes. It was weird. Even though it had only been a week, he felt as if he had found the best friends of his life… he knew that was pathetic, but it was true. They were nice to him, they tried to make him laugh (only Anko did that), and then there was Neji. Sure, Neji was pretty- very pretty- but he was kind as well. Every time Gaara thought he knew Neji and had him figured out, Neji went and did something that puzzled him. Gaara was infatuated with the boy. At first Gaara wondered if he actually liked boys (Anko had supplied him with the answer: "Awww! Is little Ga-wa having sexuality issues? Well then, let me help you… you're gay."). Anko had always been painfully right in everything she said, so Gaara just took it all in stride.

Gaara pondered on his other friends, they all probably considered him an acquaintance… oh well. He considered them all very good friends, he hopped sooner or later that they'll think that too.

20 minutes into class, Kakashi waltzed into the room, his nose stuck in his orange book of porn. After dog-earing his page, Kakashi slowly looked up to his irritated classroom.

"What?"

"You're twenty minutes late, sensei!" The room yelled back at him. Kakashi's eye looked as if he was amused for a split second, before he loped up to the rarely used whiteboard behind his desk. Picking up a blue marker, he started to write out a series of instructions.

"Today we are drawing nude models." He said, setting down the marker. Gaara immediately snorted at this, and the rest of the class began to laugh hysterically; somebody even yelled out "Pervert!".

"Hey hey now… We are drawing nude models to further our understanding of human anatomy and how the drawing of humans can relate to the anatomy of other beings that we will draw. The nude model will be here in a few minutes. Try not to laugh or anything, this person is at a large personal risk by doing this." Gaara rolled his eyes. Trust Kakashi to find a way to integrate nudity into a simple art class. Large papers and various pencils were passed down the tables as they all waited for the model to appear.

Muffled talking was heard outside the door, before the door started to slowly creak open.

* * *

Chapter Seven EDITED.  
Next Chapter: 8  
Following: 9 


	8. Chapter Ocho

CHAPTER EIGHT HAD BEEN EDITED.  
;)  
Enjoy.

* * *

A sheet of long brown hair was seen first as the door opened, then a long slender body covered in a small pink silky robe appeared, then finally, the girl tilted her head up, showing a smiling soft face. She was very, very petite and pretty.

"This is Haku everyone. He is going into the modeling business after he finishes his senior year. So this will look very good on his resume when he applies for his position. Please be very courteous to him." Everyone's mouth was open in shock. This was a boy? The feminine looking boy just gave a small, embarrassed smile before sending everyone a little wave. Gaara, while not having his mouth hanging open like an utter idiot like the rest of the class, was shocked as well.

Only after the boy was undressed and the students were beginning their sketching, did everyone believe Kakashi that Haku was a boy. Gaara was blushing horribly. He had never seen anyone naked in his entire life, and at his 'home' modesty was everything to everyone. Aside from the security cameras watch your every move in the shower, or when you were changing. It embarrassed and puzzled him on why this boy would even want to model nude for an entire classroom of teenagers. Teenagers were a ruthless, unkind bunch anyways.

Nevertheless, Gaara wasn't used to seeing so much skin on somebody other than himself, and it made him nervous. Also, a warm feeling began to build in his lower stomach, and something, which he religiously avoided to have any part with, acted up. In the most literal way you could imagine. It was _stiff_. Gaara wasn't sure if he liked it or not, but it was fucking uncomfortable. This also made him nervous. So nervous, that at the end of class, his sketch wasn't even near complete.

"Alright, for those of you that didn't finish, Haku will be here tomorrow, so don't worry. Also, for those of you who finished, maybe you could color it next time. Points will not be taken off if it is not colored, it's just a suggestion." Kakshi dictated as Haku slipped on the scanty robe and grabbed his small backpack that Gaara had not noticed before. However, before Haku could leave, Kakashi thanked him and pointed him to the nearest bathroom to change into his school clothes.

They had ten minutes of class left, which meant Kakashi read porn and everyone talked to each other. Gaara just stared at his desk till the bell rung. Well… he would have if it weren't for Anko poking him saying to talk to someone. Finally he caved and turned violently to the person sitting next to him.

"Hi." Gaara said shortly. The girl next to him jumped slightly before giving him a weak smile. She was taller than him (go figure) and she had long blonde hair with bright blue eyes. She was scantily dresses in a purple midriff that had three gold rings sewn into it and a purple mini skirt that threatened to tear. She seemed nice enough.

"Uhhh… Hi?" The girl responded. There was a very long awkward pause. And when I mean long… we aren't talking about a three second moment of awkwardness, we're talking about a real, two minute moment of just weird, tense, eye contact.

"So…" The girl started again, hoping that the disturbed boy wouldn't hurt her, "I'm Ino." It was a stretch but it was at least something to end the long silence.

"Gaara." He replied through gritted teeth. He didn't even want to talk, but Anko's threatening gaze gave him enough incentive.

"Uhm… well… did you like the lesson today?" She ventured out, trying to make conversation with her socially inept art partner. What the girl didn't expect was for the boy to break her eye contact, turn a slight pink, and respond to the desk.

"I suppose so." Then, before Gaara could even blink, the girl was on him in a second.

"Wait, what do you mean? Are you blushing! Awww! That's so cute!" She rambled on in his ear. And in a hushed voice she added: "Are you gay?" Gaara promptly choked on his own spit, and started coughing for about a minute.

"What?!" Gaara shrieked after regaining his composure (slightly). Apparently, the girl found it amusing.

"Just answer the question!" She said, leaning over into Gaara's face. Gaara was grasping for something, anything in his mind to say. Something intelligent, something witty, and something that would not make him have to answer her question from hell.

"I like Neji." Well, fuck. That wasn't intelligent or witty in any sense. In all actuality, he just dug his hole a little deeper. He hated this whole talking thing, everything always came out wrong!

"You mean Neji Hyuuga?" The girl gossiped relentlessly. Gaara shook his head back and fourth franticly. The girls grin just became wider.

"Awww! How cute!" Gaara winced before turning to pin Anko with a glare that said, in a nutshell, 'this-is-your-goddamn-fault'. She just started to laugh at his expense. Gaara turned away from her with a huff, intent on staring at his desk for the remaining five minutes. He did not want to talk about his Hyuuga affliction to some random stranger he had just met. However, it seemed like the girl had other plans.

"It's too bad that Neji's straight. Maybe you should go out with someone else! I know! How about Lee? He's a good guy!" For reasons unknown to Gaara, it made him slightly sad to know that Neji was straight. However, instead of showing this, he abruptly looked up at her and said tensely:

"I don't want a boyfriend."

"Awww! You are so cute! But of course you want a boyfriend! Here, I'll help!" before Gaara could strangle this unfortunate being, she called out to a boy across the room, "Hey! Lee-kun! Get over here!" The aforementioned boy waltzed over with a large smile on his face.

"What is it you need Ino-chan?" The boy, Gaara realized with horror, was the very same boy in his P.E. class. He was wearing a pair of very green cargo pants, and a dark green sleeveless sports jersey with the number 69 on it. He was also wearing green elbow bands with white stripes down the middle, they just screamed 'I do sports!'.

"I was talking to Gaara here, and he is in the need of a boyfriend! And I remembered that you were single! What do you think?" Ino said enthusiastically, pointing to the bright red boy staring at his table with wide, embarrassed eyes. The strange boy with a bowl-cut leaned in close with a curious smile before saying with a loud voice:

"He is adorable I do declare! Oh, Gaara-san! I will be honored to be your boyfriend if you will let me!" This Lee kid suddenly dropped to the floor on his knee, as if he was proposing. In all actuality, Lee had been planning to ask Gaara out for a time, he had just never got up the courage to do it. There was a long awkward silence. A very long awkward silence.

"I guess so…" Gaara said meekly. He was 18 percent sure about what just happened. Lee broke out in a large smile before jumping up and yelling 'yosh!'. Suddenly, the bell rang and Gaara stumbled out of class with a sense of urgency.

Gaara then decided that talking to the female species was dangerous, and that he didn't plan to do so for a long, long time. Making his way to the lunch area with Anko and Sakura in tow, Gaara briefly wondered if that meant he shouldn't talk to Anko, but shook off that thought as he realized Anko was more of a man than a woman.

Then he pondered about this Lee kid. He wasn't really sure what being "boyfriends" entailed. Maybe he should ask his new group of friends. They should know.

Walking up to the willow, he ducked under some branches and sat down, waiting for the rest of the people to appear, as only Naruto was there.

"Hiyas Gaara! What's up with your face?" He asked, referring to his puzzled expression.

"Something… just happened. And I was wondering what I should do about it." Naruto help up a hand, pausing in his consumption of ramen.

"You're asking me for advice?" Naruto snorted out.

"Uhh… yes?"

"Ahhh… I'm not good with that kind of stuff, lets wait till Neji and Sasuke get here! They're feminine enough to know stuff and give advice." Gaara just nodded in agreement, before turning away from Naruto. They didn't have to wait long, for Neji and Sasuke burst in about three minutes after Gaara had asked his question.

"Where's Itachi?" Naruto asked when his mental head count told him something wasn't adding up. Sasuke looked at Naruto, and sat down next to him before answering.

"He wanted to go for a walk instead of eating lunch." At Gaara's questioning gaze, Sasuke added for his benefit, "He does that a lot, just gets into one of his moods and decides not to eat lunch." Gaara just nodded before turning to his own food. There was a small silence as everyone ate for a bit, however it didn't last long once Naruto announced that Gaara had a problem.

"What is it?" Neji asked lightly, before taking another bite of a small peanut butter and banana sandwich.

"Well… I'm not sure. This guy… Lee something or other, asked me to be his 'boyfriend' and I wasn't sure what it meant, but I said yes anyway. Uhh… what do I do?" Gaara asked, after pausing long enough for him to gather his thoughts.

"What?!" Neji yelled, standing up. Gaara just nodded, before scooting a little bit away from Neji. Before anything else could be said, Neji stormed out of the confines of the willow.

"What did I do?" Gaara asked in wonder.

"I dunno." Naruto said with a clueless tone, before sticking his face into his ramen cup.

* * *

Yay!  
EDITING:  
Next: Chapter Nine  
Folowing: Chapter Ten 


	9. Neji's Interlude

NEJI'S INTERLUDE HAD BEEN EDITED.  
Enjoy.

* * *

How dare he!? How dare that insignificant, petty, bowl-cut whore ask Gaara out? It was clear that Neji had staked his claim! What else did Neji need to do? Post a sign above Gaara's head that said "Property of Neji Hyuuga"? How dare Rock Lee do something so stupid? He was going to teach that stupid green lump of a boy who ruled this school.

Neji stomped over to where Lee was sitting eating his lunch merrily with his odd friends. His friend were composed of his dear cousin, a boy that had a dog in his jacket, some girl with two brown buns on her head, and a very weird boy that was wearing a midriff and drawing. Lee looked up at his approaching company, and his face paled a few shades.

"What's this I hear of you dating Gaara no Subaku?" Neji said in a dangerous voice, silencing everyone in the vicinity. The Hyuuga preened at this. He was born to intimidate, he had made it into an art and he was very good at getting what he wanted.

"Uhmmm… Well Neji-sama… It is true that I am now Gaara-kun's boyfriend. Is there a problem?" Lee responded in a small voice.

"There damn well is a problem! Gaara is part of the Hyuuga protection, meaning he's mine. Nobody else's. Got it? You will break up with him as gently as possible next time you see him, and if you make him sad, you will fucking pay." Neji said menacingly, leaning over Lee in a very dangerous manner. Lee's eyes narrowed.

"And who exactly made you the queen of this school?" Lee asked, standing up, balling his fists. Neji sighed mentally. This one was a stupid one, wasn't he? Didn't he know not to fuck with a Hyuuga?

"I'm a Hyuuga. Nobody needs to make me 'Queen of the School', I just am. All I'm saying is that you stay away from Gaara. I staked my claim in P.E. the very first day he came here. He is not yours. He is mine." Neji said in a low, dangerous voice. Lee gritted his teeth in anger before answering, shaking in rage.

"People aren't just things that you can own Hyuuga-san! They are free to do as they wish!" Neji narrowed his eyes.

"Are you suggesting I'm forcing Gaara to be with me? That idea is simply blasphemy! If Gaara is to go out with me, it is because he will like me, which I fully intend to happen!" Lee, suddenly surged forward and was an inch away from his face.

"So Gaara is just some common whore that you wish to seduce?" before Lee could even blink, he was on the ground with a very, very sore cheek.

"Don't you ever imply that ever again." Neji spoke, lowering his slightly bruised knuckles, suddenly his voice turned to ice, "Lee, I hear you an orphan. Wouldn't it be unfortunate if something were to… happen? Accidentally of course. That would be such a shame, ne?" The boy on the floor's eyes widened marginally, before he slumped in defeat. He knew it was in the Hyuuga power to mess up the adoption system. There was really no way out. True, he wanted to date Gaara, but not enough to sacrifice his adoption.

"Fine. I shall talk to Gaara at the soonest opportunity. Just please… don't…" Neji knew it was a low blow, but that is how Hyuuga's operated, its all just power play. It was just a fun game, one that always guaranteed him winning. Nobody had every out-argued him. Well, perhaps Itachi Uchiha could, but that was beside the point. Soon, Gaara would be his, and only his. He couldn't wait.

"Good boy. I'll make sure you are rewarded for you efforts." Neji stated before walking away, leaving a particularly sad boy behind in the grass. Neji didn't care, he was too absorbed in his little victory to even notice. Neji trudged over to the willow, considerably happier than when he left.

* * *

Editing:  
Itachi's Interlude  
Chapter 9 


	10. Itachi's Interlude

ITACHI'S INTERLUDE.  
MAJOR MAJOR MAJOR EDIT.  
;)  
enjoy.

* * *

Itachi wasn't really one for people. He despised them in general actually. The only people he could remotely tolerate were the people in the Akatsuki (A small town gang), his little brother, Neji Hyuuga (mainly because the boy didn't talk all that much), and this new Gaara no Subaku kid. Naruto Uzumaki was on a completely different level than the rest, he went above and beyond just normal people. And not in a good way either. That kid could really grate on his nerves. However, he tolerated the obnoxious blonde for his brother's sake. Of course his brother had a massive crush on the blonde boy but since he was a total pansy (as Itachi saw it) he didn't do anything. It was so fucking obvious they liked each other. Goddamn teenagers and their insecurities.

Itachi trudged through the halls, looking for something to watch or do, that wouldn't make him angry. Haha, that's would be difficult to find. He found out that lately, everything was starting to make him irrationally angry. He needed to keep his rage in check, so most of the time he just appeared to be indifferent, while on the inside he was screaming obscenities. Sighing, he walked on for means of entertainment. He absently started to play with his coat buttons as he walked through the virtually empty hallways. He had always liked his gang coat. It made him feel pretty. But you could never get him to say that. Not even if you tortured him.

"Stop it!" Itachi's walk came to a screeching halt when he had heard the yell. What in the… Itachi found himself suddenly hyper aware of the muffled pleas coming from an adjacent hallway. Wondering what was going on, he walked on towards the sounds.

Turning around the corner, Itachi was exposed to a very… disturbing… scene. Pinned against the wall was a struggling boy (only known by the fact that his shirt was tangled around his wrists and arms, exposing a very flat chest) with long brown hair and a cloth choker around his neck. Above him was a very large, very strict looking man; he had sharp, jagged brown hair, and piercing grey eyes and had his hand down the struggling boy's pants, while one hand was trapping his hands above his head, stretching the poor boy out. The large man had thoughtfully roughly kissed the boy on the mouth to muffle his pleas.

Itachi watched with wide eyes as the large man suddenly pulled back violently.

"You fucking bit me you whore!" but before the smaller boy could call out for help, he was hit across the face by a very large hand. A loud cracking sound ran through Itachi's ears.

Itachi was torn between just leaving, and actually (dare I say it?) helping this kid out. He tried to devise a plan quickly.

"Hey… looks like someone likes to watch. Wanna taste?" The foul man said, turning to Itachi. However, an idea struck Itachi. He nodded and started forward, once he was in close proximity of the shaking boy who was mumbling 'no, no, no…' to himself in between choking breaths, he leaned in to whisper in the boy's ear; however, he made it look like he was just going to kiss the boys neck.

"_Listen to me. I wan't you to scream as loud as you can when I count to three. Got it?"_ The boy's eyes widened marginally before returning to their original size. Itachi too this as a 'yes' and slowly counted to three. On three, the boy let out a blood-curdling shriek, in which the larger man grabbed his ears, letting the boy go. Itachi moved it and swiftly kicked the man into the air. While the man was in mid-air Itachi punched him the gut, sending him into the opposite wall, knocking him out. Itachi sighed. That just what he needed. To punch the shit out of someone. He felt considerably lighter, and had a little bounce in his step.

"Thank you… Uhm, may I have your name by the way?" The boy asked, re-adjusting his shirt so that it covered his hickey-splattered belly.

"Itachi Uchiha, heir of Uchiha Industries. And you are?"

"Haku. I don't have a last name." The boy responded quickly, looking at the floor, "Just so you know, I'm not all that weak. He surprised me, that's all. I trusted him and let him get close. I should have been more careful."

"Why did you trust him? He doesn't look very trustworthy to me."

"I live with him." At this Itachi nodded. However, his nodding stopped as he realized what that meant. The boy was homeless now. He couldn't certainly go back to his current house. So Itachi did as any courteous Uchiha would.

"Would you like to live at the Uchiha Estate? You can't possibly go back to your current home."

"Are… are you sure?" Haku said timidly, not really wishing to trust someone again so soon, but was in desperate need of shelter for the night.

"Positively. Do you have anything you would like to get? Clothing and necessities can be provided for you." At Haku shaking his head, Itachi smiled and asked.

"Would you like to have coffee at that little café on 15th and Oak street?" Haku didn't respond verbally, instead he just nodded his head in a way that one would interpret as a yes. And then he waltzed down the hall, ready to go to his next class.

Itachi briefly wondered what had spurred him on to invite Haku out for coffee, but immediately stopped. After all, Uchiha's are 100 percent sure of their decisions.

* * *

EDITING:  
Next: Chapter 9  
Following: Chapter 10 


	11. Chapter Nine

!shuffles in quietly!  
You have no idea how sorry I am for the lateness.  
FIVE WHOLE DAYS!  
Ugh... I am disgusted with myself.  
!winces!

* * *

"Wait… Can you say that again?" Gaara asked for the third time in a row. Sasuke, the initial speaker, was ready to tear Gaara's eyes out. Sasuke had been explaining this whole boyfriend thing to Gaara in Neji's absence, and the boy was still having trouble grasping the concept. Sasuke began his lecture once again.

"Okay, so a boyfriend is kind of like a normal friend, except you are romantically involved. So then-." Sasuke was cut off by Gaara's rough voice asking what being "romantically involved" entailed for the second time that day. Also for the second time that day, Sasuke's face colored drastically.

"You know… like kissing, touching… and hugging, and other things like that. It means you care for the other person, and… umm… you show it with that sort of affection." At Gaara's faltered nod, Sasuke continued with his original train of thought.

"So then when somebody asks you to be their boyfriend, they are… umm… requesting your companionship… in a… more… sensual way than friendship. Uh… it means they like you enough that they are willing to be close." Sasuke stumbled through his explanation, however Gaara could, for the most part, understand.

To Gaara it seemed that to be asked to be someone's boyfriend, it was a compliment; because it basically meant that the other person wanted to be near you—according to Sasuke. But this was the part that confused Gaara. Why one earth would anyone want to be near him? It was odd. Who would want to be "romantically involved" with Gaara? The idea was foreign and weird to him in his mind. It made him nervous. And not the good, tense nervousness he felt in art class today. It made him feel slightly nauseous, and worried that he would mess his possibly only chance for somebody to like him enough to "kiss and touch and hug" him— and by default, the only opportunity to do that to somebody else. However behind all the worry and confusion, Gaara was generally excited about this whole new development. He couldn't wait to see Lee again. But then again, that was a whole other set of questions.

"I… I think I get it now… But what am I supposed to do next time I see him?" Gaara asked softly. Sasuke's brow crinkled at this question. Usually one would hug or wave to their boyfriend in greeting, but this was Gaara, Lee might get frightened if Gaara did something out of character— Sasuke knew he would be scared.

"Just… follow Lee's lead. If he hugs you, you hug him back— just watch and see what he does."

"O…okay…" Gaara replied, before turning his head at Neji's entrance, the boy in question looking considerably happier than when he left.

"Uhhh… are you alright?" Naruto asked suspiciously at Neji's cheerful disposition. Naruto may be stupid, but he wasn't stupid enough not to realize Neji's radical change in mood. The boy in question just plopped into his seat with a very satisfied "yup!", popping the 'p', and was quiet for the remainder of lunch.

Gaara sighed as he walked into his History lesson, taking a seat all the way in the back. His history teacher was a very skinny, very sickly looking man that always took up at least ten minutes of class with coughing fits. His name started with a 'g' or 'j', Gaara couldn't remember it for the life of him, and the teacher in question always wore a small blue beanie hat. Gaara didn't know why, but every time he saw this particular teacher's beanie, he became irritated. It wasn't as if the hat insulted him, it just made him irrationally angry—thus, his immense dislike for this class. When the teacher shuffled into class, Gaara's grip tightened on his pencil. He was wearing his stupid hat again.

At this moment in time, Gaara decided to no longer focus on the lesson or its beanie-clad teacher, but on his notebook. He was very fond of his notebook. Ever since school started, Gaara just drew in his notebook; he was intending to fill up all four notebooks he had been given with his elaborate drawings. Today he was working on a very large, very fearsome, tiger, crouching low in tall grass. He was becoming slightly irked because the shadowing wasn't going well. Just as he was about to chuck his prized notebook across the room, the bell rung, and it signaled poetry was going to start; he had three minutes to get there.

Stuffing his notebook into his netted backpack, he made his way to poetry. Gaara hated this class. Not because of obnoxious head gear worn by a nameless teacher, but because he didn't understand meter and because of stupid, useless rules. Who cares if a word is iambic or trochaic? It bothered him. And when they said "open topic" it meant write about puppies and kittens underneath rainbows—not what he wanted to write about. Hardly any _real_ poetry was about frivolous things, _real_ poetry was about, emotion, loss, happiness, passion… none of which he was allowed to write about because they weren't 'appropriate topics'. It irked him greatly. If you can't write a poem about what you want to, then why write the goddamned poem!? Sometimes, Gaara outright refused to write a poem because of this stupid 'appropriate topic' rule. It was a damn good thing that they were just taking notes today about poets of the past, Gaara would just refuse to participate in these 'writing exercises' they liked to torture him with.

Gaara sighed with relief when the bell rang, meaning he got to go to his second favorite class—Japanese. In this class they would read books written by great Japanese writers. Sometimes they would be recently written, and sometimes they would be so old, that the vocabulary was slightly lost on him. He liked it because all he had to do in this class was read—something that was quite enjoyable to him. It made him slightly angry though whenever people would grumble about how long the reading assignments were. Only stupid people hated to read. At least, that's what Gaara believed.

Today they were reading a book called _Chanshaoshi no hanashi_, which was written by a Japanese woman named Anzai Atsuko. Gaara rather liked it. As the class sat in silence with there in-class reading assignment, Gaara looked out the window. He had already finished the book, and was horribly bored.

Now, horribly bored and Gaara just don't mix; because Gaara began to think about things that didn't need to be thought of. However, today Gaara could only think of a bright green individual with unusual speech patterns, and a can-do attitude. He briefly wondered why Lee had said he wanted to date him. Seriously, Gaara had just met this boy, and only observed Lee when he had been making a fool out of himself in P.E. with his bright-green jumpsuit gym clothes. Gaara had learned from Naruto that Lee had to get special permission just to wear that hideous green thing during P.E, as they had to wear uniforms. The reason _why _Lee would want to wear that while exercising, Gaara couldn't even imagine.

However, Gaara had to admit, Lee looked alright in normal clothes. Sure, all the green was a little off putting, but Gaara could handle that. But, Lee could never beat Neji in looks or… anything else. It was too bad he didn't like boys. For some reason, Gaara was really, really sad when that blonde-haired chatterbox told him that. Gaara didn't know why. I mean, it wasn't as if Neji would actually _like_ Gaara even if he was partial to boys. Sure, Gaara could clean up, but he couldn't clean up nearly as good for him to be with Neji. Gaara sighed. What he really wanted was Neji, but since that wasn't possible, he supposed he could just kick it with this Lee kid. He was nice enough.

Gaara felt a warm feeling start to sit in his stomach as he moved to go to his very last class—English. He couldn't wait for this class to be over because that meant he could go and seek out Lee to talk to him. Or whatever it was couples do. By the time Gaara's class let out, Gaara was practically humming with excitement and curiosity.

"Hey lover boy! You actually gonna talk to us today?" Anko called from behind him, startling the fucking crap out of him. Suddenly, guilt washed over Gaara. Ever since Lee had asked him out, he had been completely ignoring Anko and her pink-haired comrade (read: slut).

"Uhm…" But on seeing Anko's face, the guilt lifted. She was just teasing him. Her bright smile quickly turned into a 'kissy face' as soon as she realized Gaara was looking at her.

"Your maturity levels go down with age, don't they?" Gaara said flatly, not amused with her antics.

"That has nothing to do with you wanting to have 'man-shecks' with that green kid!" Anko shot back, dancing around Gaara. She knew her job was to encourage this kind of behavior in Gaara, but man, this was way too juicy to pass up. Gaara raised a non-existent eyebrow at her.

"Can you wait by the van? I would like to have a word with the… 'green kid'." Gaara said in a very tense monotone.

"Awww! Why can't I watch?!"

"Because it's private!" Gaara shot back.

"Oh psh. Who needs privacy anymore? Privacy's for weenies! Let me come too!"

"No."

"Please?" Anko whined. Gaara just shook his head angrily and stomped away, in search of Lee.

Gaara realized after twenty minutes of walking, that it was almost impossible to find someone you knew in a crowed of 800 kids. Though it was a little easier for him because people liked to give him a pathway in fear of touching the strange kid. But still. It was hard to find someone in this goddamned crown. It was as if the fucking point of the crowd was to hide people you wanted to talk to! Growling, Gaara pushed past someone, trying to look for a very, very snaky green-clad bowl-cut kid. No such luck. Gaara was about to knock out some unlucky bystander, but before he could vent his mounting irritation, he spotted his target… er… friend… er… boyfriend?

"Uhm… hello?" Gaara timidly said, tapping on Lee's shoulder. The charming boy turned around and smiled weakly.

"Oh! Uhm… Hello Gaara-kun! I… uhm… would like to talk to you in private." Titling his head curiously to the side, Gaara accepted Lee's offered hand and began to walk into a more secluded area—a.k.a. the cliché empty classroom. Once they arrived, Lee began to fidget and Gaara became more and more curious.

"What is it?" Gaara asked in his usual monotone.

"Uhhh… well… you see… I…" Lee started haltingly. Gaara made an impatient sound and Lee just spit it out.

"Idon'twanttodateyouanymore!" Gaara jumped back as if Lee had spit poison.

"Huh?" Gaara couldn't be hearing Lee correctly!

"I… I don't want to date you anymore…" Gaara was at a loss. How could he have screwed up already! He didn't even say two words to Lee! Maybe that's why… maybe it was because Gaara didn't talk to him afterwards. But, it was the first day! Gaara was confused. What did he do wrong? It couldn't have been the talking thing, the rational part of him said. Then what did he do? Gaara steeled himself.

"W-why?" Damn the stuttering! He was trying to look indifferent here!

"It… it was a mistake." Lee said quietly to his feet.

"Oh." What could you say to that anyway? Gaara's gaze dropped from Lee's form to stare at a wall to his left.

When Lee looked up, he felt like kicking himself. He had honestly wanted to date this red-haired boy, but… Neji said he couldn't. The look of pure anguish on the boys face when he had first said it nearly made Lee change his mind; however a flash of Neji's face had made him repeat himself. Before Lee could say anything on the matter to his red headed companion, Gaara walked out of the classroom without another word.

The second the door shut, Gaara broke out in a sprint. Skidding around corners and dodging people, Gaara ran all the way out to the rumbling white van. Yanking the door open, Gaara jumped in without a second glance to the school.

"Awww! Gaara finished with his little alone time with his _boyfriend_? Did you guys kiss!? I bet you did." Anko teased from the drivers' seat, pulling out of the school parking lot and into the busy street. Pinning his nurse with a glare from hell through the rearview mirror, Gaara ground out:

"No. Because he dumped me before the fucking day even ended." Anko's grin melted off her face within an instant.

"What?!" She screeched, nearly ramming into someone on the road. "Where the _fuck_ does this kid get of-."

"Why?" Sakura questioned, cutting off Anko's tangent.

"Why do you want to know?" Gaara spat at his pink haired, brainless substitute nurse.

"Because I care about all my patients. Now tell me… why?" Sakura replied calmly. A long silence ensued. Just before Sakura sighed and gave up, Gaara spoke up.

"…All he said was that it was a mistake." Gaara mumbled into his lap. He was truly miserable. Sure, he didn't really have any attachment to Lee… but it was the most he had ever had. It was the closest thing he had ever been to affection or love. Even if most people would consider it just a split second relationship with someone they hadn't even thought of like that before, Gaara felt that it was special. It was the first time he had ever been in a relationship. It was the first time someone had said that they had affections for him, well… more like implied… but still, it was more that Gaara had ever had. Gaara agonized about what he had done wrong. What had he done to push away the cheerful boy so quickly?

When they had pulled into the parking lot of Gaaras 'home' Anko didn't have the heart to tell him to wear his restraint. She just shuffled him into the building, giving a negative shaking of her head to anyone that tried to question her or Gaara. She led him to his room and left swiftly after a soft 'goodnight'.

Gaara knew it was only four at night, but he felt so heavy and tired. He ambled over to his stark white bed and stripped completely before falling into a tumble of sheets and pillows.

Sighing, Gaara grasped a pillow tightly and wiggled under thin sheets and began to shake. He wished someone would hold him. He wished he had a real home. He wished he wasn't so messed up inside. He wished he had a family. He wished he could walk around without two shadows. He wished he didn't have to take a sedative everyday just so he could pretend to be normal. He wished… he didn't know what he wanted anymore, but 11 years of pent up emotion flowed out of him as he lay shaking on his bed, clutching his pillow so tight, it was threatening to tear.

He didn't sleep that night.

Or the next.

* * *

Because I'm a bitch... I'm going to leave it there. 


	12. Chapter 10

Hiyas!  
Seesee!  
I updated earlier than 5 days this time!  
Aren't you proud?  
!runsofftodohoursofhomework!

* * *

"Gaara? Tsunade would like to see you." A very meek looking nurse said, stepping into Gaara's room.

Gaara hadn't moved for two days and wouldn't respond to anyone's inquiries on how he 'felt'. He refused to talk. It was driving everyone up the wall. He had figured out why Lee had rejected him. It was because Gaara was a shut in. A loony. A _freak_. He probably didn't even know who he was talking to when he had agreed to go out with Gaara. Someone must've told him that he agreed to date a crazy.

Besides… even if Lee had known, he would have been pushed away eventually what with Gaara's violent mood swings, the little things setting him off in a surprising frenzy of fear, and of course how he lived out of an insane asylum. Normal people didn't live in an asylum. Normal people didn't have so many scars that it was hard for Gaara to distinguish scar tissue from normal skin tone. Normal people didn't lie in a bed, naked for two days not talking and not eating. Gaara was the farthest thing from normal, and it disturbed him.

"Gaara?" the nurse questioned again, due to the fact that Gaara had not even spared her a glance. Sighing, Gaara lifted himself from the stark white sheets, letting the fabric flutter away from his skinny and scarred frame. The asylum never let him have any privacy with changing, besides, even if no one was in the room, he still had a camera trained on him at all times. Gaara shuffled around, trying to find something to wear in his bare room. The nurse, who was bright red, handed over a small white bundle. Gaara took the bundle and slowly started to change into the simple white tunic and white cotton pants.

Slowly slithering down the hall with the still embarrassed nurse, Gaara pondered on what Tsunade was going to say to him. He technically was behaving—it wasn't as if he had started to harass and throw objects at the nurses. Gaara stepped through the familiar yellow door and sat among a smattering of brightly colored pillows.

Tsunade wasn't typing this time. She was simply sitting, waiting for his arrival. After a very long silence of just eye contact, Tsunade stirred.

"Gaara, what has gotten into you? You were fine two days ago. Sure, Anko told me some kid decided to date you for a few hours, but seriously. This is enough!" Tsunade's statement started softly, but ended in yelling.

"Do you know why he broke up with me?" Gaara murmured softly at his crossed legs. At Tsunade's negative nod, Gaara continued, "He broke up with me because I'm an insane shut in."

"Gaara…" Tsuande voiced softly. But before she could get in another word, he snapped, slamming his fists on the floor next to him.

"For once in my life I want to be normal! I want to have friends that aren't always walking on eggshells! I want to be able to take a punch and not crawl in a corner and shake for an hour! I want to have a normal life! I've been trying so hard to get better but it seems that I'm just making things worse and worse, till I'm so deep in the hole I'll never fucking crawl out of it! Why can't I be normal!?" Gaara was shaking, clenching his fists rhythmically, and his face was that of complete anguish.

It was then that Tsunade understood. Gaara wasn't necessarily upset that a boy had broken up with him, he was upset because of the reason, and that this was… to be utterly cliché, the straw that broke the camels back. The event triggered all of Gaara's pent up emotion, causing a small breakdown in mental stability. This wasn't the emotion of one event. This was every emotion he had felt since he head been born. Contempt. Fear. Anguish. Want. Need. Confusion. It was all pouring out of him in one swift, but painful movement. Tsunade thought that this was a good development, it would help Gaara let go of his anger and fear from all these traumatic events. He was starting to show emotion more freely—it was a good development.

"Gaara, how would you react to moving out of the asylum?"

"Please!" The question had surprised an answer out of Gaara, causing him to wince at his pleading tone. For gods sake! He had just broken down in front of his goddamn shrink! He didn't need to be anymore pathetic.

"This development would be possible if you had a live-in sedative technician, and visited me regularly. Would you consent to that Gaara?" Tsunade asked, watching as his face of sadness brightens up at the notion of moving out of the institution. At Gaara's excited nod, she smiled in return and started shuffling through all of her papers, obviously looking for something. However before she found it, Gaara had stood up and made his way to the door.

"Wait! Don't you want more details?" Tsunade called after him. Gaara shrugged indifferently before moving completely out of the door. He couldn't wait to be out of this stark white prison. Marching back to his room, Gaara decided to ask the security to call Anko to his room. He couldn't wait to tell her about this new development! The second she stepped into his room he bounded over to her.

"Did you hear? I just got released."

"…Yea. I heard." Anko said, looking away for Gaaras semi-happy face. He wasn't smiling, but you tell he was ecstatic.

"Why… why aren't you happy? I finally get to leave this place."

"Well yea… but you won't ever visit me!" Anko cried dramatically, draping her form mockingly over Gaara. Gaara gave a muffled yelp and tried to push her off of his smaller form.

"Anko! Get off!" He mumbled into her shoulder, trying to shove her off in vain.

"But… I'm soooooo sad, Gaara! Don't leave me here!" Anko wailed, putting more weight onto Gaara, which caused them both to collapse onto the floor.

"Dear god. Was that completely necessary Anko?" Gaara asked from underneath Anko's completely limp form.

"Yes." She answered into Gaara's hand, which had been clutch on her face, trying to push her off of him. A long silence ensued.

"Get off already!" Gaara nearly shouted, throwing his entire weight into pushing her off of him, which failed miserably, but she eventually got off of him. Gaara asked her to pack his clothes for him because he wasn't allowed to have them in his room, lest he strangle himself with a pair of pants or something equally stupid. When Anko agreed and basically skipped out of the room, Gaara let himself crack a small smile. Anko was ridiculously immature for her age, but Gaara liked that about her, it gave him a small comforting feeling in the pit of his stomach. Gaara briefly hoped that Baki would get well soon so he could say goodbye to him—but that emotion passed quickly when a small nurse came through the door with some odd news.

"Uhm… excuse me Gaara… but there is a boy with long hair asking for you in the front… May I escort you out there?" She said, nervously looking at his unrestrained state, "I think you may have to wear a retraining garment to meet him Gaara…" she said softly. Gaara's eyes flashed with anger before he simply pushed past her and started down the stairs to go to the lobby, ignoring her calls. Pushing open the double doors that led to the internal parts of the asylum, Gaara waltzed into the lobby.

"Excuse me. Gaara, I believe you are only allowed to be with visitors when you are restrained." The secretary said sharply, standing up. Gaara raised a non-existent eyebrow at her, before turning to his 'long-haired guest'.

It was Neji.

"Don't tell me you forgot about our outing to Itachi's Restaurant?" He said lightly, eyeing Gaara's state of dress. Gaara blushed a slight pink before muttering a very colorful expletive.

"Do you mind waiting for a minute?" He said shyly, before running back into the internal workings of his prison. He came to a skidding halt to his open room door and saw Anko putting a small duffel bag on his bed. Those were his clothes!

"Hey Anko! I need an outfit! Quick!" At Anko's laughter, he huffed and stomped over to the bag. Within seconds, Gaara was dressed very… figure friendly?

Gaara was dressed in a very tight, very small black shirt that said 'If you think this shirt is tight…' that Anko had begged him to wear, a pair of flattering jeans that had a weird graffiti print splatters across them randomly. Anko had insisted he wear jewelry as well, so both of his writs were splattered with a rainbow of colorful beads and knick-knacks. Anko had handed him a small white messenger bag that had all of his medical needs, and patted his heat with a smirk. Toeing his shoes on that Anko had just dug out of the duffel bag, Gaara ran back to the lobby, out of breath.

"Sorry… I completely forgot." Gaara gasped out.

"Really? I didn't notice." Neji said with a slight smirk. Gaara growled and was about to retort, but what Neji was wearing caught him completely off guard. He was wearing a dark grey turtle-necked vest with an impossibly tight pin-striped short-sleeved shirt underneath. That coupled with his customary bandages, his hair was down, and black slacks, he was practically oozing sex appeal.

While Gaara was placing the bits of his brain back together, Neji guided him out to an enormous black Escalade with chrome edging that was blasting some sort of underground techno mix. Gaara winced at the sheer volume of the music and the shrewdness of the lyrics, but it was strangely satisfying. When Gaara had climbed into the passenger side of the car (strangely, it was open, Gaara had expected Naruto to indulge in the 'Shotgun!' contest), he was startled yet again to see what everyone was wearing. Itachi was wearing a purely fishnet shirt with a black bandana that was littered with small red clouds covering his head (like a beanie Gaara noticed, twitching) and a pair of very tight, very shiny, leather pants. Gaara made a small mental tick in his head next to Itachi's name that was labeled 'gay'. Naruto was wearing a loose orange, sleeveless vest with a high collar and a blue tee shirt underneath, along with bright orange shorts. Sasuke, who was sitting next to Naruto eyeing his legs with a blush, was wearing a simple white Uchiha type shirt (high collar, short sleeves), and long white slacks.

Halfway through the very loud, very boisterous car ride, a song called "Uchiha-San is Worth a Million Bucks" came on Neji's Sirius XM radio, and everyone promptly began to sing along, taunting the two Uchiha's present. It was very, very amusing— that is, if you listened to the lyrics. After the song ended, everyone was in high spirits, and Naruto asked Gaara in a slightly breathless voice that made Sasuke gasp:

"Hey, how's it going with Lee?" The air suddenly turned thick as Gaara stiffened and the music stopped momentarily for a new, softer song to start. Gaara struggled for an answer that wouldn't make him seem completely and totally pathetic. Apparently, he was silent for too long.

"Did he hurt you?" Neji asked tightly, gripping the steering wheel till his knuckles turned white.

"No." _Liar_.

"Then what's wrong?" Sasuke asked curiously from his spot next to Naruto.

"We… we went our separate ways. It doesn't matter." _It does_.

Apparently, Gaara wasn't very convincing, because Itachi snorted from the backseat in disbelief and Neji just shook his head in frustration.

"I honestly don't believe that, but since Gaara looks so uncomfortable, let's drop it." Itachi said wisely from his position in the backseat. And right at that very cliché, very convenient moment, they arrived at Itachi's new… establishment. If that's what you could call it, Gaara thought narrowing his eyes at the bright glowing sign outside of the building.

* * *

I wonder what the "Establishment" is going to be like!  
O 


	13. Chapter One  Ten

!crawls through a hole in the ground!  
Uhmmm... hiyas?  
!scratches head!  
Now before you all decide to fucking kill me... I would like to say something... I was considering canceling this story.  
For **reals** man.  
But since I love all of you guys I'm going to keep writing... even though I don't even know the plot... or how everything is going to come together... or how I'm going to link all of the key scenes together...

**_EDIT:_**

_**I **_really_** need a beta, anyone willing to read the next chapter and tell me everything wrong with it?  
;)  
And you all are absolutely amazing, your reviews made me so happy! I'm willing to write now! You guys really know how to lift someone's spirits!**_

* * *

"You brought me to a Strip Bar?!" Gaara screeched… yelled… because men don't 'screech'. At all. Quite a propostrious idea. Men screeching? Yea… right.

"Technically its an 'Establishment of Pleasure'… but you could call it that too." Itachi supplied, stepping down and out of the car. Shrugging, everyone followed out of the car, shuffling into the shady bar. Gaara, after he had finished up his conniption, walked in after Sasuke, basically attached to his back. He was nervously fingering his white medical bag and kept his eyes firmly planted on the floor, face a bright pink.

"Gaara, you can look up from the floor, nobody's going to hate you for looking." Naruto said, nudging Gaara in the side once they had sat down in a mirrored booth. Gaara slowly looked up and his eyes bugged out.

"_Kakashi-sensei?!_"

"Hm?" a very familiar silver haired AP-art teacher turned around.

"Oh… Hello… Gaara, was it?" The aloof adult slowly waltzed over to their table and rested his hand on there table.

"What are you doing here?!" Gaara asked, still in shock at seeing his art teacher at a strip bar.

"I could ask you the same thing," Kakashi started, but at Gaara's scarey ass glare, he explained, "I work here on weekends. Teacher salary sucks ass." And with that parting word, Kakashi dissapeared behind a room labled 'Staff Only'.

"Wait what?" Gaara sputtered. This was a strip bar right? Didn't only wome-… Gaara, just now looking around, noticed that all the dancers didn't have quite the right… anatomy to be female. Gaara frantically spun his head towards Itachi.

"You took me to a fucking _Gay Bar_?"

"Basically." Itachi answered with a smile plastared on his smirking face.

"A little beforehand notice would have been nice." Gaara huffed embarassedly, covering his face for about the third time that night.

"Aww its not that bad is it?" Sasuke asked, nudging Gaara's elbow. Gaara sighed and took a look around, judging his surroundings. All around him were very… wet… men dancing very erotically in various enviroments… one was even in a fucking cage with a collar on. Gaara was quite sure his face could not get any redder. He sighed and laid his head in his arms on the table.

"Ahh… fuck it. I'm already here aren't I?"

"Do want anything to drink?" Naruto asked cheerfully, nudging Gaara's arm with his pointer finger.

"Not anything alcholic, it will mess with my medication." Gaara knew this because it just so happened to pop up during their 'get-ready' session while Neji was waiting.

Quick Flashback!

"_Wear these jeans!" Anko said, throwing a pair of blue jeans at his face. While Gaara set to the task of changing, Anko went over all the medication that he would bring with him. _

_"Alright so, use this one if you begin to shake," she said, holding up a very pointy apparatus, she also gave a little demostration on where to insert the needle, "You basically just stab it on a leg or arm and it will empty itself automatically. Okay, on to the next one! This one, you just take by mouth if your vision starts to get blurry! Simple. And then the last on you have to take right before you eat dinner. It's this tiny pill. Take it by mouth. Oh, and don't drink anything alcoholic, it will mess you up, and once you've recovered, I'll personally strangle you for drinking underage." Anko ended with a small smile. Gaara halted in his frantic attempts to get his ass into his jeans and gulped at Anko's expression. _

End Quick Flashback!

While Gaara was thinking of his 'get ready session' with Anko, Neji nudged Itachi.

"Are you sure it was a good idea to bring him here? He looks uncomfortable. Maybe he's not… you know…" Neji said in a low voice, sounding panicked.

"You worry too much. He is totally gay. Remember, he agreed to go out with Lee?" Itachi replied calmly, forcing is little brother to go and get everyone drinks via vicious poking.

"Yea… but didn't he seem a little confused when Lee asked him out?" Neji replied softly to Itachi through the pounding music.

"You forget, he knew what 'uke' and 'seme' meant."

"Then why would he be so clueless about dating?" Neji shot back, getting slightly annoyed with this small inconsistency of Gaara.

"Dunno. Why don't you ask him?" Itachi said indifferently, trying to catch his brother's unusual hairstyle in the crowd—hey can you blame him? He was fucking thirsty. Neji huffed and just crossed his arms, contemplating whether or not to ask Gaara about this unusual pattern of behavior.

To hell with decorum.

"Hey Gaara… I've got a question," Neji started.

"That's nice." Gaara shot back.

"Ha—ha that was so funny. _Anyway_… I was going to ask you how do you know what 'uke' and 'seme' are, while at the same time you have no idea about the concept of dating?"

"I heard Anko use those terms once. I take it I used them correctly?" Everyone at the table promptly face-planted.

"Y-you're kidding, right?" Naruto sputtered.

"Uh… no."

However before the conversation could escalate, Sasuke came back bearing gifts (read: alcohol). Setting down a totally fruity drink in front of his brother, three shots in front of Neji, a glass of wine for himself, and a simple vodka mix in front of Naruto, he sat himself down; and as a second thought, he slid a can of soda over to Gaara.

"You should have seen the bartenders face. He looked at me like I was some kind of midget alcoholic."

"What the fuck is this?" Itachi asked, poking the little umbrella sticking out of his colorful drink.

"I dunno. I asked for the gayest drink in the bar." Sasuke replied smirking.

"Asshole."

"Yep."

"Awww… brotherly love. Isn't it so sweet Gaara?" Naruto chimed in after taking a very small sip. He wasn't much of a drinker, he just ordered something so it could sit in front of him, barely touched. Unlike Neji who could down eight fuckin' shots and not feel a thing. Yes, Naruto had 'tolerance envy'. A very, very strong 'tolerance envy'. Damn Neji. Damn him and his tolerance. Damn alcohol in general.

"I wouldn't know. Last time I saw my brother I was being dragged into the goddamn asylum." Gaara said without much tact at all.

"Well… isn't that a conversation killer…" Naruto grumbled, fingering the rim of his glass.

"I've said it before and I'll say it again, Gaara has the social skills of a rabid bear." Itachi chimed in quickly before sinking back into his minor argument with his little brother.

"Oh! That reminds me," Gaara started with a hint of excitement in his voice, causing everyone to turn their head to him, "They are putting me on a sort of probation! I'm moving out as of tomorrow to go live… somewhere… I don't know who. But I'm finally leaving! Of course I'll have a live-in nurse, but I'm finally moving out." Gaara rambled on, a smile tugging on the corners of his mouth.

"That's great Gaara!" Naruto practically yelled.

"Really? They can do that?" Itachi offered, interestedly.

"Mmmhmm. Apparently I'm a 'special case', so I get some odd privileges. Infact some law officials are getting pissed, but Tsunade's enough to hold them back." It seemed odd to Sasuke that they were just all sitting around talking about Gaara's insanity as if it were a conversation about the weather. Maybe Gaara didn't mind all that much because he had been basically brought up in the asylum, so he would be totally comfortable talking about it. It was just a hunch, but still Sasuke thought it was little odd.

The rest of the night was pretty uneventful, aside from Gaara being picked up on by a male whore. It was a pretty lame pick-up line too. I mean Jesus, who says: "You'll be the iceberg, I'll be the titanic, and I'll go down on you." Wink, wink nudge, nudge etcetera… However, before he could get his slimy hands on our poor virgin Gaara, he was scared away by Neji's fierce glare and protective tug on Gaara's arm. But mostly it was the "Back the fuck up!" that Neji had yelled, almost getting them kicked out of the 'establishment'. Oh yes, they were an entertaining group once half of the party was drunk off their asses. Delightful. The only ones not drunk were Gaara and Naruto, Sasuke was only slightly intoxicated (he called it a slight buzz).

However, the problem came up on who would drive them home. Neji didn't trust Naruto in driving his car, Gaara didn't have a license nor did he know where everyone lived, and everyone else was… well… out of commission. So, Naruto, having an amazing spark of genius, called a cab. Now usually this would be no big deal. However, the driver was… to put it lightly—insane. Seriously, Gaara could have driven better than that lunatic.

Anyway, his driving skills triggered an instinctive fear in Gaara and he began to shake. Usually, this would not be a big deal for most people. However, when Gaara shakes, action must be taken immediately. Calmly, Gaara took out the little pointy apparatus out of his bag and stabbed it into his leg, grunting softly in pain. He suddenly felt his anxiety melt away and his irritation at the retarded driver fade. It was only till he was out of the car did he feel completely calm.

Then, Neji completely and totally ruined it.

Grabbing Gaara's shirt collar, Neji pulled the sober boy forward with a stupid drunken grin on his face.

"Hiyassss…" Was all that was said (read: slurred) before Neji crashed his lips onto Gaara's. Now Gaara, having no idea what to do, just went with it. It wasn't like Neji would remember the next day anyway right? Right as they began to enjoy themselves, the cab driver honked in an uncouth manner, scaring Neji out of the kiss. Giving Gaara a drunken grin, Neji loped back into the cab.

It didn't really register that he had been kissed by Neji till he was lying down in his bed, staring at the white ceiling. His head popped off his pillow and he let out a very colorful expletive. He felt a victory dance coming on.

And so that is how Anko found him, moon-walking across the goddamn room at 11 at night.

"That was like… fuckin' Michael Jackson style right there." Anko commented smirking.

"Did you just accuse me of being a child molester?"

"Actually, Michael Jackson is an amazing dancer, you can't deny that. However, he needs to lay off the little kids." Anko said good spiritedly, "So what was that little blast from the past for?"

"Well… I just got kissed. But I'm not sure if it counts…" Gaara began slowly, sitting down on his bed.

"What do you mean 'not sure if it counts'?"

"Well… he was kind of drunk off his ass." Gaara said sheepishly.

"Where the fuck did you people even go?" Anko said crossly, disproving of his friends getting drunk.

"Are you my mother?"

"No, but I'm close enough goddamnit!" She shot back at him with an equal amount of frustration. Gaara just growled.

"I was at a fucking _gay bar_, happy?" He spat at her.

"Immensely." She said coldly back to him. Before departing, she threw his travel bag at him saying that he would be leaving with his new 'caretakers' after school tomorrow. As soon as the hiss of the door sounded, Gaara regretted fighting with Anko. It was possibly the last time he would see her and he had been a total ass to her.

* * *

!depressed noises!  
Yea... I know... completely anticlimactic...  
So sue me, I feel like giving up the story.  
D: 


	14. Chapter Doze

Thanks to you people being made of awesome, my confidence in this story has returned FULL FLEDGED.  
[  
So here is a chapter for joooo.  
Enjoy.

oh... and by the way **_I NEED A BETA.  
_**Review if you wish to be my beta.

* * *

Gaara was fidgeting.

_Fidgeting._

Not the sissy kind of 'ants in your pants fidgeting', of course not. That would be fuckin' normal.

It was more of the kind where it feels like your skin is crawling with nervousness and taught with anxiety. When your teeth are clenched together and your eyes keep darting to the clock. The kind where you get random spasms and try and play it off like your cold. Those kind.

Why was Gaara so nervous you ask?

Well, he was in his last period English class, waiting to get out of school. Now, what makes this nervousness so extreme today, you ask? Gaara thinks you have way too many fucking questions for the beginning of a chapter, however… It's because he was going to get picked up by his new 'family members'. And only to make it worse, Itachi, Naruto, Sasuke, and Neji had all been absent that day.

Also, staring at the clock for twenty minutes will give anyone an extreme case of anxiety.

When the bell rung… Gaara basically had a conniption before sprinting out of the door and into the barely populated halls. Once he was at his locker, shoving random notebooks into his netted backpacks the halls became crowded and Gaara felt squished. Trust the school to give him a locker between two really fat people. Not that he had anything against fat people; it's just that _these particular_ fat kids pissed him off. Did they need to pass food over Gaara's head to each other and then crunch very, very loudly in his ear? No. But they did it anyway. Also he was accounting for the fact that he basically had to swim out of their combined jelly-filled sides when he was finished at his locker. Lets just leave it there before someone goes home crying. Insert sarcastic smile here.

Pushing open the large front doors of the school in an irritated manner, Gaara stalked out of the school for Anko. She was going to introduce his new caretakers to him, and he wanted to apologize to her. Gasp. How strange. Glancing around the parking lot, Gaara caught a snatch of Anko's voice and began to walk towards it. It was quite loud, so Gaara was able to follow her voice easily. However once he had found her, he wished he the ground would swallow him whole.

Some very, very familiar faces were staring at him, quite intently actually— there was somebody who he could only identify as a distant cousin, a random blonde, and two very familiar people whose identities had slipped his mind. Gaara just desperately wished he had some names to say so he wouldn't look completely stupid. However Anko fixed this problem.

"Hello. These are the people you will be living with. Sasori," she pointed at the tallest redhead, "Deidara," the random blonde, "And your brother and sister—Kankuro and Temari." At the last two, Gaara's eyes widened and narrowed within a second.

So _these_ were his siblings that had deserted him. These were the siblings that had never visited him, and reassured him that he was loved while he had been 'healing'. They weren't there when he was scared. When he had first settled into the asylum, he had waited for his sister and brother to come and rescue him. To take him away from that place, but they never came. Once Gaara was old enough to understand that he couldn't leave, but he was allowed visitors, he waited for his sister and brother to, at the very least, come and see him. But they never did—and Gaara didn't forget that.

Ignoring the two relics from his past, he turned to the 'Deidara' guy and the young-looking 'Sasori', he had heard that name before…—"Hello. Are you two of any relation to me?" He asked curiously. Sasori's name seemed familiar, but the blonde was a total blank for him. The couple looked surprised that Gaara had actually spoke, however they answered him through their surprise.

"I am a very, very distant cousin of sorts. I only was present during your birth. And this is my fiancée— Deidara. Isn't he adorable?" The last statement was punctuated with a small tug on the blonde's sleeve, and the blonde's face to flush slightly in embarrassment.

"Hn." Gaara grunted back, a little habit he had picked up from Sasuke. He wasn't fond of this habit, but it had somehow transferred into his being in the little time he had known Sasuke.

Turning away from his new family, he made eye contact with Anko, sending her a questioning gaze.

"Yes?" she asked.

"Who's my live-in nurse?"

"You looking at her." She said with a smirk.

"Really? That's… great." Gaara said, a small smile tugging at the corners of his mouth. Well, just barely tugging, but it was gone before it could register in anyone's mind but Anko's.

"Why don't you say hi to your siblings?" She suggested softly.

"Why?" Gaara answered tersely. He didn't want to talk to his 'loving' siblings. Gaara's eyes flashed over to where the two he was talking about were standing. They looked ashamed. So they heard. Good. Gaara didn't want to have anything to do with them.

"Gaara…" Anko warned.

"Look…" Gaara started, "I don't want anything to do with them right now." He had tacked on the 'right now' just to please Anko, "It's… complicated." She gave him a look that clearly said 'we are _so_ going to talk about this later', and turned back to the people she would be sharing a home with for about a month.

"Uh… so we have two cars, yeah. But it's still going to be a little cramped. I'll go with Sasori-danna and Anko-san in Sasori's car, yeah. And you can kick it with Temari-chan and Kankuro-chin in Kankuro's car, yeah?" Deidara spoke up, illustrating his speech with his hands.

"Yea, I'll agree, _if you stop calling me that_." Gaara's brother spoke up, irritated at being called 'Kankuro-chin'—though Gaara himself agreed wholeheartedly on the nickname. It seemed that his brother, since Gaara had last seen him, had found a make-up drawer. It wasn't like he was decked out in full-fledged Kabuki make-up, but it was close. His face had a large purple stripe messily applied across his face, over the bridge of his nose, and his eyes were outlined in the same purple shade. Kankuro was wearing a hoodie with the hood pulled up, and the hood had an odd, but distinctive shape. It reminded Gaara of cat-ears. It all seemed very child-like to Gaara—thus, his agreement on the nickname.

Turning to his sister, he thought it was only fair to take a look at his sister as well, he was shocked to find she had dyed her hair blonde. She used to have red hair like Gaara, he wondered why she had dyed it. Her hair was obnoxiously pulled up into _four_ ponytails. Who styled there hair into four pony-tails? Wasn't one good enough for her? Apparently not. She was wearing a very short blue dress with a white, apron-like thing that had a bright red obi-like belt thing around her waist. And only one thigh was decked out in fishnet. Gaara felt a tick develop in his right eye. She wasn't symmetrical. It was distracting.

Tearing his eyes away from his sister's unsymmetrical leg, he stared at Deidara. The person was very… colorful. He was wearing a bright red shirt with little blue and yellow stars splattered across the front that said in white letters 'Bang'. Under that shirt he had a long-sleeve horizontally striped shirt in purple and orange. He was also wearing bright pink corduroy pants that had bright green cuffs at the bottom and waistline. His wrists were adorned with plenty of jelly bracelet's and other colorful 'doo-dads', same goes for his visible ear, it was covered in colorful earrings. He was wearing a single, fine-chained necklace that had a little red swirly cloud as a pendant, which reminded Gaara strongly of Itachi's coat. Gaara's head began to hurt as he continued to look at Deidara's clothing. It was just so… bright.

"You're… very… colorful…" Gaara remarked, holding his head. Deidara looked positively delighted.

"Yeah? You think so? I like colorful things! Well, except for Sasori here, he's not one for colors, yeah. Funny how I like the one person that doesn't like to wear colors, yeah." When Sasori's name came into the conversation, Gaara turned to his distant cousin. Sasori was wearing all black. A black long-sleeve shirt and black pants with a studded belt that was only slightly showing, was all that he wore. Nothing was obnoxiously bright; aside form his red hair and similar red cloud earrings.

"Do you two happen to know Itachi?" Gaara asked, leaving out Itachi's last name. At Gaara's question, both of their eyes widened.

"You know Itachi?" They asked simultaneously.

"Yes. But I believe the question was if _you_ knew him." Gaara replied, raising a non-existent eyebrow. The two looked at each other before answering.

"Yea… we know him. He's a friend of ours, yeah." The blonde supplied happily.

"As fun as this little reunion is, we're block people in the parking lot." Anko said, indicating that they should get into the two cars and drive to wherever Gaara's siblings lived. Deidara took the hint and ushered his boyfriend and Anko into a rusty, beat-up 1980 Honda Civic, and pushed Kankuro towards his old 2002 Ford Focus that was missing a fender.

"Seeya at our house!" Deidara yelled from his window and sped off.

"Goddamn hyperactive eyesore…" Kankuro muttered, peeling himself off his car and climbing inside. Gaara jumped into the back, slinging his backpack to the floor of the crappy car as his sister slid into the passenger seat. The silence in the car was immense, but Gaara didn't particularly mind. He was used to awkward silences. However the silence was killed as soon as Kankuro turned the key in the ignition.

"_Wa-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah! Come on! Ya get down with the sickness!_" Disturbed's song '_Sickness_' was blaring out of the crappy speakers as loud as possible, causing Gaara to violently jump.

"Sorry." Kankuro said as he quickly turned down the song to an almost in audible level. Gaara just glared in response at the rearview mirror, causing his brothers gaze to drop like a fat kid drops a carrot. As they began to drive, a thought gripped Gaara like ice. What if the house they lived at was the house that Gaara had lived in as well? His worry over powering his dislike of his company he asked in a small voice.

"Is the house we're going to the same one." What seemed to be a very vague question to an outside listener, however Kankuro and Temari knew exactly what he meant.

"No. We live at Sasori's house." Temari supplied from the front, and Gaara let out an audible sigh of relief. He didn't think he could handle living at his father's house again. He wouldn't be able to trust himself there. It was a major relief that they weren't ever going to that hell-house again. He just hoped whoever lived there now would have happier memories than he did of that place.

The dive was surprisingly short. However, Gaara was shocked at how small the house was. _Six_ people were going to live here? That was pushing it. Hell, _four_ people living there was pushing it. Gaara stepped out of the car and headed towards the door, wondering how the hell six people could fit into it. He huffed impatiently as Kankuro couldn't seem to find the right key for the door, and when he finally found it, Gaara was a little ball of excitement, he couldn't wait to see inside.

Stepping over the threshold, Gaara explored the house. It was a one-story house that had a very oriental feel to it. He took off his shoes before stepping up to the wooden floor and looked around. This was the living room; it had a flat screen placed on the wall, and that was about the extent of their wealth. The floor was littered with colorful floor pillows and throw blankets around a very short table that still had some Chinese take out sitting on it. Apparently the living room was the dining room as well. There was a rice paper, sliding door that was open that lead to a kitchen that looked pristine and unused.At the back of the kitchen there were two side by side sliding doors that looked like they led to bedrooms.

On the opposite side of the living room there was a closed sliding door that he walked through, finding that it was a bath-house type room that had two large square baths that were set into the floor and one glass enclosed shower. It also had a zigzag changing screen in the corner, which had three multicolored towels hanging haphazardly on it. To Gaara's right when he was standing in the doorway was yet another sliding door. He walked through that one as well and was greeted with a small hallway type thing that had two sliding doors one opposite to him and another to the right, leading to four separate rooms. Gaara decided not to go any father, lest he intrude on someone's personal space.

He walked back through the bath-house room and into the living room/ dinning room, halting to look at the five people just standing around. When he entered the room, all five heads turned and looked at him expectantly.

"It's small. But I like it." Gaara said awkwardly. At his small statement, everyone beamed.

"Okay so… Sasori and I share a room through the bath house, and Kankuro and Temari have their own rooms through the kitchen, yeah. I hope you don't mind bunking with your nurse through the bath house next to our room, yeah." Deidara spoke up, waltzing into the kitchen, acting as if was going to cook. Kankuro followed Deidara but went into his room rather than stay in the kitchen and Temari just sat at the Japanese style table and turned on the TV. Sasori followed his fiancée and stopped all motions of cooking with "Why don't you call in take out?", in which Deidara replied with a whine: "How come you _always_ say that, yeah?"

Anko went to check out the room that she would be sharing with Gaara, and it was then Gaara decided that he would like this arrangement… a lot.

* * *

Hahaha, you guys have to WAIT to see the next interaction between Neji and Gaara.  
Oh what a cruel author I am...


	15. Chapter Drizehn

HIYAS ALL!  
I have a wonderful beta...  
But a computer with weird Document types, so I can't email attachments... SO SORRY FOR THE WAIT!  
I'll post up the next chapter in a few seconds.  
:)

* * *

Gaara sighed with happiness. He was excited to be able to take a shower without, a security camera trained on him the entire time. He reached over to make the water even hotter, and let out a small smile at the heat. At the asylum he could only have a set temperature, which was always too cold for Gaara. Gaara decided he liked showers, now that he was able to take a proper one. He had always associated showers with unpleasant feelings, but now had a feeling he would be taking a lot of them in the near future. He selected a bottle from the ledge (something that seemed great to him because in the asylum they had set pumps attached to the wall) and smelled whatever was inside. It smelled so much better than what they had in the asylum! With a small amount of glee, he squeezed the bottle and let some of its contents pool a little in his hand and began to lather his entire body meticulously, spreading the scent everywhere.

He heard the sliding paper door open and listened as two people passed the shower stall to go into the small little hallway and into their rooms. Gaara didn't mind that the bathroom was semi-public. In fact, he kind of liked it. It gave the feel that everyone was open and didn't mind showing what they looked like to their family. It made Gaara feel, well, happy. Happy that he managed to get a second chance at a family, even though he still held some resentment towards his brother and sister.

Gaara sighed again as he turned the heat up another notch and stepped under the steamy spray to wash off the delightfully scented soap. He had a small suspicion that it was shampoo, but didn't particularly care. Soap was soap in his mind. Taking out some more of the pleasant smelling soap, he began to rub it into his red locks of hair, taking an almost animalistic enjoyment in having his scalp rubbed, even if he was the one rubbing it. The smell was now almost over-powering, but Gaara still liked it.

As stupid as it sounds, Gaara became sad as his shower came to an end. He wished he could just stay in the water forever, it was so nice, and it was so cold outside of the stall. His irrational sadness was rudely interrupted by a voice sounding through the bathroom.

"Hey Gaara, take-out is here. We didn't know what you liked so we got a lot of stuff. I hope you're hungry." It was Anko.

"I'll be there in a moment." He replied from his position still in the shower, turning to make eye contact, but failed to do so because she had already left the bathroom.

Stepping under the spray for one last time, he rinsed his hair so that all traces of soap had disappeared. With a small amount of reluctance, Gaara twisted the handle and let the water die out. The only sound was the small, dilapidated sound of the shower faucet dripping and the sounds of eating and talking coming through the paper doors. It was, oddly, a calming combination of sounds. Gaara took just a moment to relish in his freedom, and his chance at a sense of normalcy.

Stepping out of the stall and closing the glass door with a snap, he waltzed over to the changing screen. He began to dry himself and place some very comfortable, very bright colored, jimm-jamms. Don't look at him like that. They're called 'jimm-jamms' not fucking 'pajamas', honestly. Gaara felt odd wearing bright yellow bottoms and a neon orange top, but still, it was colorful, and not _white_. Gaara was determined never to have anything white in his life again. Grey perhaps, or maybe 'eggshell' but not fucking_ white_. If you ask him, that shade was tiresome on his eyes and he had seen way too much of that color to begin with. That was half the reason he was so taken with Deidara. He was colorful. Gaara liked that. He liked that a lot.

His stomach grumbled, reminding him to stay on task. Toweling his hair, he slid back the screen door and stepped into the little living room/ dinning room, eager to get something to eat other than something that he could only relate to as hospital food. Whatever the hell it was, it smelled fantastic. Spotting an empty opening between Sasori and Anko, he sat down at the low table. Silently, Anko offered Gaara his before dinner pill and he swallowed it without water. The rest of the family watched the odd exchange, but when Gaara raised a non-existent eyebrow at them, they turned back to their food, or whomever they were talking to.

"Hey Anko what is this?" Gaara asked softly, poking something on his plate that smelled really good, but looked like vomit.

"I don't know." Anko said shrugging, before eating her share of the good smelling but what looked like vomit food, "But it tastes really good!"

"It's curry. We ordered from the 'Curry Of Youth' shop down the street. Kankuro supplied. However, Gaara just glared at him. Kankuro raised and eyebrow but then turned to talk with Temari instead. However incidents like this occurred all through dinner, until Kankuro finally snapped.

"What the hell is your problem?!" He roared, slamming both hands on the table. Sasori sighed, and Deidara muttered something along the lines of "Here we go again, yeah." and Temari juts rolled her eyes.

"If you can't figure it out then you're stupider than I thought." Gaara replied calmly.

"Well than apparently I am stupider than you though. Why don't you elaborate on your extreme hatred of me?"

"Are you fucking kidding me?" Gaara half-yelled back.

"Are all the Subaku boys this temperamental, yeah?" Deidara said softly to Temari, Which she replied back with an exaggerated nod.

"No, I'm not! Why don't you tell me?

"You have a brain, why don't you fucking _figure it out_?" Gaara venomously spat back, completely enraged on how Kankuro could be so oblivious as to why his little brother disliked him. He couldn't comprehend it. How could his own _brother_ forget about him? He had been waiting for him all this time! But he never fucking came. Gaara was torn between hate and longing for his siblings.

"Why don't you make it easier for me and just _tell_ me?" Kankuro yelled back.

"Alright Fine! You really want to know?" and in a deadly quite voice Gaara whispered "You weren't there when I was scared." And with those words finally out of his system, he began to shake.

"Excuse me." The shaken redhead said, getting up on shaky legs, walking through the sliding paper doors and into his room once he walked through the bath house. He was joined minutes later by a very stressed looking Anko.

"That wasn't a very nice thing to do Gaara." You should have seen their faces once you left. They looked positively heartbroken. She said, loading a needle with a very small dose of medication to stop his shaking, which had escalated after leaving the room.

"It serves them fucking right" Gaara muttered, still enraged. He held out his arm for a dose However, right as the needle entered his arm, the paper door slammed open, startling Anko. Her hand jerked with surprise, tearing at Gaara's vein and skin.

"Agh!" The mentally ill boy yelled, yanking his arm away, careful to pull away so that his skin wouldn't rip further. He covered his arm with his hand and was wide-eyed in pain.

"Ahhh! Deidara-kun is so sorry! I am so sorry, yeah! I didn't mean to do that! Are you alright, yeah?" A very peppy blonde yelled from his panicking position at the door.

"Fuck" Gaara half-yelled, "That hurt like a bitch" Anko then took his arm and examined the wound, ignoring Gaara's protests.

"Yea, that's going to get infected. Sorry Gaara, lets patch you up and I'll give you the dose in your other arm."

"Fuck that! I'd rather shake for an hour" Gaara spat back, now officially terrified of needles. How this scenario never crossed his mind before was still a mystery to him.

"I am very sorry, yeah! Is there anything I can do?" The colorful blonde asked, reminding the two of his presence.

"Uhm, could you find some gauze and ointment please?" Anko asked, attempting to make Deidara go away by giving him something to do.

Once Deidara had left, Gaara and Anko then began to bicker.

"No."

"Gaaaaaaaara."

"No."

"But you need it."

"I do not need anything."

"Gaara."

"No."

"But-!"

"I'M NOT FUCKING LETTING YOU STICK A NEEDLE IN ME AGAIN!"

"Watch your language."

"…"

And that was the end of it.

Once Deidara reappeared, and Gaara's arm was bandaged up, Anko inquired why Deidara had nearly killed Gaara via door-slamming.

"I forget." Deidara said simply looking at the floor.

"You _forget_?" Gaara asked impertinently.

"Uhmm, yeah," Deidara answered, scratching his pony-tailed head. Shrugging, he grinned like a moron and walked out of the room. Anko did a loop-de-doop with her finger next to her ear and crossed her eyes once Deidara was out of the room, indicating that he was a few stripes short of a candy cane.

A soft knock was heard on the door.

"Come in." Gaara said to whoever was on the other side. However he wished he could have taken it back once he saw who the mysterious 'knocker' was. It was Kankuro. The very last person who he wanted to talk to at the moment. Gaara had half a mind just to point at the door and say for him to get out. However, Anko got up and left the room, leaving the two very much alone. A long silence ensued. Gaara shifted on his bed as Kankuro transferred his weight onto his other foot. More silence. Finally, Kankuro let out a slightly strangled noise and spoke.

"Look, I know that you don't like me. But, just listen to me please. I tried to come and visit you when you had first been admitted. I asked where you were all the time. However the social workers always ignored me or told me 'right now is not the time.' When I was put into Sasori's care, he told me I could go and visit you. And I did, it's just that every time I wished to see you, something, something was really wrong with you at the time. I, I just eventually gave up. It was like they didn't want me to see you. I'm, I'm sorry. I'm so sorry I wasn't there for you."

Gaara half wanted to call him a liar, and half wanted to fling his arms around his brother's neck.

"Is that true?" He asked, looking at the floor shyly.

"Every word," Kankuro answered. "I swear." Hardly before the last word of his sentence was out, Gaara found himself with his arms wrapped around his older brother's broad chest.

"Promise me you'll never leave me alone again" Gaara said softly into Kankuro's chest, willing himself not to cry. His older brother returned the embrace and replied that he would never leave his little brother again.

However the moment was ruined by Anko's big mouth.

"Awww! You guys are having a mushy-man moment." Gaara growled into Kankuro's chest, before tearing himself away from the comforting embrace and chucking whatever he could get a hold of first, in her general direction.

"Such violence!" Anko yelled dramatically.

"You're just jealous." Gaara said back, impishly sticking out his tongue, desperately trying to will the blush that has steeled on his cheeks away.

"Well if you guys are done, can we get back to eating our ˜Curry of Life" She said, leaving the door frame and hinting quite heavily that they should follow her.

* * *

Awww... they're getting aloooooong.

XD


	16. Chapter Twenty Minus Six

Dun, dun, duuuun!  
This chapter has basically no purpose other than making Gaara uncomfortable, and a perfect way for me to be able to set up HOT GAARA ACTION in later chapters.  
X3

* * *

Gaara was starting to catch on to the rhythm of living with a family. He would wake up, take his meds, get ready, go to school, after he had gotten home from school, shower for about an hour, then he would join his new family for some sort of take-out. He had discovered that nobody in the house could cook worth shit. However, Deidara always wanted to cook, but everyone had adamantly refused his wishes, even his fiance. While his new family was loud and boisterous, Gaara found them to be growing on him.

The only thing that was confusing him, at this nearly perfect moment in his life was Neji Hyuuga. Here, let Gaara explain via convenient flashback.

Flashback!

"Hiyas Gaara!" a very happy blonde called from the front steps of the school.

"Hello. Where were you guys yesterday" Gaara asked, looking pointedly at Neji, wondering if he remembered the kiss. All outside appearances indicated that Neji did not, but Gaara still wondered.

"Well, Itachi, Sasuke, and Neji all had massive hangovers. And, Well. I skipped, because I really didn't want to go to school all that much." Gaara snorted out something that sounded like "That sounds responsible." before turning his attention fully to Neji.

"Uhm, are you alright? Do you feel any, uh, better?" Gaara asked, tilting his head to the side. For some reason, Naruto found this hilarious, while Neji just looked clueless.

"Uhm, Should I be feeling bad?" Neji answered Gaara's question with a question of his own. How infuriating. Gaara just shrugged in response.

Later.

"Hey Neji" Gaara started, "Can you help me with this?" He asked, trying in vain to pick up a very, very, heavy table.

anything you'll ever need groped 

End Flashbacks!

Neji's actions puzzled him. At one point, it seemed like Neji was hitting on him, but then the very next moment, Neji acted completely indifferent and aloof. It was driving Gaara up the wall. And to top it all off, Gaara was having some very, very strange dreams involving Neji. These certain dreams brought forth that uncomfortable tightness, that was pleasant, and unpleasant at the same time (you know, that strange thing he felt in art class while watching Haku.), and what was even worse, was that he had no idea how to get rid of it. He didn't even know if it was _normal_ for certain parts of the anatomy to become hard and rigid. He supposed he could ask Anko, but that seemed really, really awkward, and so he filed that particular plan away in his brain as a last resort.

He briefly entertained the idea of asking Sasori or Deidara, but he nixed that idea due to the fact that they weren't close enough for that kind of talk yet. Temari was a no-no, because she was a girl, and was missing certain _parts_ that Gaara thought necessary to explain what was happening. This is how he found himself standing outside his brother's room, debating on whether to knock or just walk right back where he came from and figure it out himself. However his decision was made for him as Kankuro's door whipped open.

"Can I help you? You've been standing out there for forty-five minutes just fucking _fidgeting_ and its making me nervous!" His older brother asked violently, looking very distraught.

"Well I kind of had a question, and I think only you can answer it" Gaara started softly, blushing bright red.

"Oh fuck. What kind of question?" Kankuro cautiously asked, while letting Gaara into his room. Kankuro's room was a deep purple with black furniture and was decked out in black lights. However the window was open today, so it was bright inside of the normally laser tag-esque room. Gaara went over and sat on his brother's bed, trying to find a place to start.

"Uhm, well, you see… I was wondering if it was. Well, normal to, uh," and this is where Gaara trailed off, too embarrassed to continue.

"Normal to what?" The ever-oblivious Kankuro inquired, still not understanding what Gaara was trying to ask.

"Uhm" Gaara gulped nervously, "Well if it was normal to, well, uhm, feel_tight_inplaces?" Gaara finished in one breath, his face a bright red that was starting to rival his hair in brightness.

"Oh," Kankuro said lightly, "_Oh" _his face opened up in realization, "" And with that, Kankuro's face erupted into a crimson color.

"Fuck, you can't just drop a question like that! " Kankuro frantically spoke, trying to flatten out his nerves that had been messed up by just a simple question.

"Sorry! I should have known it was just a weird thing going on with me. I'll leave." Gaara said quickly, making a move get down from the bed. However, Kankuro's big-brother gene kicked in, as he pushed Gaara back down.

"Hey, hey, hold it there. I never said it wasn't, err, normal," Kankuro began awkwardly, "Uhm, it happens to all guys."

"But why?" Gaara asked, genuinely confused. Why would anyone want that feeling?

"Oh god, uhm well, you see, when a guy _likes_ something or someone, uhm, _that_ happens. But only when you think, or uhm, dream about them, erm intensely." Kankuro struggled hard to explain without losing his composure.

"Uh, I think I get it but, uhm, how do you get _rid_ of it? " Gaara asked, desperately wanting to know the answer.

"Oh god. I can't believe I'm explaining this to you, Uhm well, you can do two things I guess. One would be just to ignore it till it goes away, or, uhhh," at this point, Kankuro's face matched Gaara's hair, "You could, _manually_ fix it. "

"I could _what_?" Gaara asked, genuinely confused. How would one 'manually' get rid of it?

"Well, uhm, you, uh. Oh fuck it. You could rub it till you get relief. And you definitely know when you reach that point. Oh, and do it in private, it's not something you do around other people." Kankuro said, throwing his decorum into the dirt and forgetting about it for the moment. At this rash explanation, Gaara nearly cried out in embarrassment. This had defiantly been a bad idea. What had he been thinking? Go talk to his brother about it? What the hell? That was possibly the worst thing he could have done in retrospect. Gaara was sure he could have figured that out if he really put his mind to it. Dear god. He was so embarrassed.

"Uhmm thanks? " Gaara squeaked out, before fleeing from the room, wishing that he would never come face to face with his brother again. He fled to his room, embarrassed as hell. He would never speak of this again. Even if his life depended on it.

He needed a shower.

A nice, long, hot shower to calm his frayed nerves, which had been torn to pieces in the past 15 minutes. Better yet, he needed a fucking _bath_. Maybe he would fall asleep and drown. Yea, a bath sounded good right now. Gaara began to waltz over to the living room and to the paper doors that led to the bath house.

However, once he had opened it, he wished he hadn't. There in one of the baths were Sasori and Deidara sharing a very, _intimate_ moment. With a very, very manly squeak, Gaara fled from the room.

Okay, so a bath was out. Alright, maybe some TV? After searching for ten minutes, Gaara found the remote, letting out a triumphant 'Ha!' and flipped the TV on.

"On Jerry Springer, two gay midgets are fighting over the 'unfairness' of the partner 'starting' without the other-. " Holy fuck! Gaara flipped the TV off. Dear god, this topic was following him _everywhere_ he went. With that thought in mind, Gaara let out a strangled cry of anguish. How was he going to escape the evil clutches of perversion if it was everywhere around him?! Gaara wished he could get into the fetal position, but decided against it. If Anko found him in that pose, it would be straight to the asylum for him. What was a poor, untouched, virgin boy to do in times like these?

Why attempt to cook of course! That should take his mind off of this embarrassing crap. However, within ten minutes time, the following would happen:

1. The fire alarm will go off.  
2. The word 'fuck' will be yelled exactly eight times.  
3. An entire carton of eggs will be wasted.  
4. A fingertip will be missing.  
5. A medical kit will be strewn about, almost destroying it's contents.  
6. The sink will clog.  
7. The food will catch fire, again.  
8. Cereal will somehow get messed up even though it's the easiest thing alive to make.  
9. Gaara will give up.

Now these things aren't necessarily in order, but I think you get the drift. Gaara is a shitty cook, and will be forbidden from the kitchen at a much more severe level than Deidara was. The blonde can at least make cereal. Dear _god_.

However, these events did exactly what Gaara had initially wished them to do- forget about his and Kankuro's little heart-to-heart. Ahh, the joys of cooking.

* * *

You all know you can't wait for HOT GAARA ACTION.  
Which isn't going to appear in the next chapter... However it will apear in chapter 16.  
XD 


	17. Chapter 十五

Claps for Chapter 15!  
: D  
I hope you like this chapter, 16 will be out as soon as my LOVELY BETA finishes reading it.

Chapter 17 isn't written yet, BUT I SHALL START ON THAT TONIGHT!  
Oh yea... capslock is cruise control for cool.  
DX

* * *

Today was a great day. At least, that's what Gaara decided right before P.E. He had basically made the chemistry teacher, look like a total moron/pedophile by making Orochimaru say something that wasn't exactly school friendly, and he had the highest score on his Math mock-national exams. One-hundred percent, to be exact. Gaara was feeling smug. Oh yes, he was _smug_. This day could not get any better he decided while pulling on his gym clothes. However, the redhead's happiness was short lived.

"Welcome youthful students! Today we shall be taking the Presidential Fitness Examination! How wonderful! In your springtime of youth, you shall be tested so joyfully-…" and that's about where Gaara tuned out. He had to take the PFE? Holy god this was not going to end well. At Gaara's crestfallen face, Naruto began to giggle.

"It's not going to be that bad Gaara." Neji tried to re-assure him by rubbing his back as Gaara dropped his head dramatically.

"I'm going to die…"

"You're not going to die." Itachi said, sighing.

"Yes I am." Gaara said stubbornly, looking up teary eyed.

"No, you're not." Sasuke said a little more forcefully than the others had, annoyed with the redheads melodrama. Gaara gave a small grunt, indicating that he didn't believe his friends.

"Alright! Lets line up and do push-ups of _youth_!" Gai-sensei yelled, making people line up in 5 neat rows. Gaara laid down on his tummy and waited for the dreadful whistle to shrill. As the evil whistle from hell sounded, Gaara found himself trying to do 100 push-ups. It was kind of pathetic. He only managed to do four in sixty seconds and was already tired. Groaning as everyone lined up to do chin ups on the four different bars set up in the gym, Gaara wished he had stayed home today.

"Alright! Next!" Gai-sensei yelled, indicating for Gaara, Naruto, and two others to step up to the bars. Gaara glared heatedly at his bar. At the whistle, everyone jumped up and began. Except for Gaara of course. He jumped, but couldn't quite catch the bar. Sighing, he tried again and he tried in vain just to hold on. Gaara managed two chin ups, and he wasn't even doing them correctly.

Next, the had to do sit-ups (Gaara only did eight), wall squats (he fell over at around the twelve second mark), the 100 meter dash (last place by thirty seconds), step-ups (he could only 'step-up' for twenty seconds out of sixty), and other numerous painful things that left him exhausted and laying flat on the floor by the end of class.

"Hey… you okay?" Neji asked, nudging Gaara's head with his toe. Everyone was tired, but nowhere close to the redhead.

"Holy shit, he really did die!" Naruto yelled spastically, running around until Sasuke caught his shirt collar and told him to calm down.

"Mmm… leave me alone." The dead redhead mumbled into the dirty gym floor. He didn't really care at the moment that he was laying on the _floor_, but apparently Neji did.

"Here, let me carry you, you obviously can't walk." Neji said softly, picking Gaara up and holding him bridal style. Gaara just muttered something incoherent before snuggling his face into Neji's shoulder.

"Aww! He's kind of cute when he's unconscious." Naruto squealed, rubbing Gaara's head. Gaara swiped at Naruto about thirty seconds to late in a delayed reaction.

"Mmmm sleepy. G-way." Gaara mumbled, exhausted into Neji's firm, but comforting chest.

"I'm going to take him to the showers. He's all sweaty." Neji said, hitching the lightweight Gaara closer towards his chest. Gaara let out a soft gasp at the friction, but was too exhausted to get turned on. He was vaguely aware of his surroundings, so when warm water hit him in the neck, he yelped.

"Wha?" Gaara said, looking around, and noticing he was naked with a small towel tied around his waist. He also noticed some strong arms holding him up, keeping him from collapsing.

"Haha, calm down. Its just me, Neji. I don't want you to fall over and kill yourself." The long haired boy chuckled softly in Gaara's ear. The red headed boy shivered. Why did Neji's voice have to be so goddamn seductive?

"Mm." Gaara 'said' back to Neji, putting a little more of his weight on the other boy.

After they had both rinsed clean, they changed back into their school clothes, Gaara needed a little help, but he was for the most part coherent. Well… sorta. By coherent, he meant he could find the A.P. Art room while Neji carried him to the classroom door.

The entire time in art class, Gaara sat rubbing his eyes, desperately trying to stay awake. Why did they have to subject him to torture in the form of a Physical Fitness tests? Gaara wondered in anguish. By the end of class, he had drawn a very distorted, very oddly shaped, dragon, stick figure thing. When he turned it in at the end of class, Kakashi asked if he was sick.

"Uhh… are you okay Gaara? You seem, out of it." Kakashi questioned, looking from the picture to an eye-rubbing Gaara, trying to understand why this drawing was so retarded.

"No… I had to take the PFE's…" Gaara said sleepily, lumbering back to his desk to try and make an attempt of picking up his backpack without toppling over. However he was delighted to find a certain white-eyed boy waiting for him at the art room door. Wordlessly, Gaara climbed onto Neji back, trying to go back to sleep. Lunch time was for sleep and homework, not food; this is common knowledge. So once they reached the willow and settled under it, Gaara had curled up on Neji's lap, sleeping.

Neji didn't mind, in fact, he liked it, and he showed this by stroking Gaara's flame colored head- carding through his hair with long elegant fingers. He felt Gaara inhale and exhale softly, and his breath tickle a small stretch of skin that was showing above his pants, but below his shirt. His soft belly expanding and deflating with low, deep, relaxed breaths. Gaara looked so sweet when he was asleep, softly breathing, his face smoothed out making his ever so common scowl non-existent. He was at ease. It made Neji wonder about a small child Gaara, that had never gone to an asylum. It was endearing.

Neji stroked Gaara's hair, and began to softly play with his ears. It absent minded occurred to him that Gaara's ears were very soft, like baby skin. And with this notion in mind, he began to rub them even more softly than before. Gaara, even though he was unconscious, leaned towards Neji's delightful administrations upon his ears and head. Like a little puppy that had done something good and was getting his reward. Nevertheless, Gaara immensely enjoyed the attention being lathered onto him, even in his incoherent sleeping state.

At the end of lunch Neji woke Gaara up reluctantly, wishing that they could rest like that for the rest of the day.

"Hm?" a bewildered Gaara asked, sitting up, rubbing his eyes.

"Time for class sleepy-head." Neji said softly to Gaara, who just nodded and stretched like a cat before standing up. He wasn't exhausted anymore, maybe a little sore in places he never knew he had, but not tired.

"I don't want to move." Gaara said in anguish, grabbing his backpack reluctantly. While Gaara was messing around with the straps, Neji leaned over and huskily whispered in his ears, "I didn't want you to move either…" But before Gaara could respond, the bell rang, and they separated for class.

Gaara didn't pay attention in History, Poetry, Japanese, or English much. His mind on other things. Such as his new family, taking a nap in his love interests' lap, taking a _shower_ with his love interest (he had dearly wished he had been coherent during that time, but that was sadly not the case), and other things that Gaara had deemed more important that his school work. However at the end of the day he received a very large, very interesting shock.

While standing at the curb of the school parking lot, waiting for one of his siblings to pick him up when he felt _it_. Or rather, heard it.

A soft, breathy tone entered his ear as soon as he felt a familiar presence behind him.

"_I remember. Its your call now_." Gaara's eyes widened at the familiar voice, but when he turned around there was only a crowd of students, and it didn't contain the one person he had heard. What had this familiar entity meant by 'I remember'? Was he referring to the kiss that he had drunkenly given, or something else. It was troubling. And even if he was referring to the drunken kiss, what was Gaara supposed to do? Apparently, it was his call now, but he didn't know how to act in a situation like this. Before he could come to a coherent conclusion, he saw a familiar shock of unnatural blonde hair pull up in a beat-up Ford Focus, gesturing that he get his ass in the car.

As soon as he got into the car (the backseat because he had no desire to sit next t his sister, whom he had not heard of her 'excuse' as to why she didn't visit him), Temari drove off suddenly and very quickly. About half-way there, she spoke up.

"How was your day?"

"_That_ is none of your concern." Gaara spat at her reflection in the rearview mirror.

"Hey. You can fucking bad mouth off to Kankuro however much you want, but you will not act in such a way towards me." She said crossly.

"Oh really? What have you done to gain my respect for you? Neglect me when I was hospitalized? I think not." Gaara responded with an equal amount of terseness.

Suddenly Temari pulled over. She flipped herself around to face Gaara.

"Really? I've done nothing to gain your respect? Would you like to know who fought with the entire family so that we could house you and give you a family? Me. That's who. You wanna know who had to basically strangle her brother so he would be nice to you? Me. And do you appreciate it? If course not! Because you're a stuck up, selfish, shut in, brat that only thinks of himself." Temari ranted, returning to the road once she was done venting.

"When they said 'Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned', they weren't fucking kidding." Gaara mumbled from the back, feeling absolutely horrible. He felt like the worst scum on the face of the planet, and then some. The rest of the car ride was spent in tense and uncomfortable silence. When the two got home Gaara spoke up, not being able to hold it in any longer.

"Uhm… Temari?" Gaara asked shyly, Temari turned to him curiously.

"What?"

"Sorry." He said, blushing, then quickly leaned up and gave her a small kiss on the cheek before rushing inside and into his room. Temari held her cheek in shock before he features melted into that of a smile. Her brother was healing. It may be a slow process, but he was healing and that's all that mattered to her.

Gaara panted from the adrenaline rush. He had never known kissing his irate sister would be so scary. He was half afraid of her smacking him and half afraid that she would start to cuddle him. Only Neji was allowed to cuddle him. And that was final.

Speaking of Neji, what was he going to do about the mysterious boy? It was 'his call' but he had no idea what to do about it. What if Neji was just toying with him? What if he just wanted to fuck with his mind? Slim chances, but it was still a possibility, and Gaara didn't like this possibility. He wasn't sure if he could handle _another_ rejection so soon. It was bad enough when Lee had turned him down within hours of their relationship, but if Neji had managed to do that, Gaara didn't know what he would do. And he really didn't want to test it out. However if Neji had remembered the kiss and hadn't freaked out about it, and even mentioned it, that had to be good right? Gaara sighed. His thoughts were round-about and he was getting nowhere.

It was time for a shower.

A nice long shower.

Grabbing a towel and a change of clothes, Gaara slid open his paper door and stepped into the small adjoining room to the bath house, and soon followed into the bath house itself.

* * *

Hahaha, I fail the PFE's every year!  
Yay for weak kids!  
8D 


	18. Chapter Sex plus Deis

(_I'd like to thank EVERYONE for reading this. I am so happy! I hit the 10,000 hits mark )_

Uhm ...HIYAS!  
I've been re-vamping the whole thing, because... well the story has been going to fast in my opinion.  
So, while I tweak my story, here's some GAARASTERBATION for you.  
(so many people asked for smut, I just was like 'hey... wtf. I'll write some.'.  
Hahaha, this is my first time EVER writing smut.  
It probably sucks.

**_VERY GRAPHIC SCENE UP AHEAD._  
If you don't like that kind of stuff, scroll down to 'That Morning...'  
It's in blod, you can't miss it.**

* * *

Gaara stepped out of the shower with a small sigh escaping his lips. Sure, the shower was wonderful, but it did nothing but confuse him further about his thoughts concerning Neji. He shunned away the annoying thoughts for now and shuffled into his room However, before he was completely inside the room he noticed a small note taped onto the sliding door. 

_Hey emo-boy! _

_It's Anko, I'm sleeping over at Baki's house tonight to make sure he's alright, he hasn't been at work for three weeks now! All of your medical stuff is on my bed, so you can use it if you need to. _

_Ja ne! _

_-Anko _

Gaara sighed and dropped the note on her bed. Sometimes he wondered if Anko was a real nurse or if he was just getting Punk'd Ashton Kutcher style. Seemed like he would be alone with his thought for the evening. Collapsing forward on his bed, Gaara soon fell asleep due to his body already fuzzy and warm from the shower.

_dream _

_Hands. Hands roaming his body. Skin sliding over skin. Wet. Shivers rolled up and down his spine. He trembled. He panted. He didn't want it to stop. Arching his back, leaning into the touch. Fingertips wandering. _

_Gaara was hyper aware of what he was feeling. Soft pants blossomed over his face. He gasped. He wished to open his eyes. But there was only darkness. Only feeling. He trembled violently, waiting for the unseen incubus to make his move. He didn't know what was worse, waiting for the person to make his move, or when he actually did, making Gaara submit to all of these unsatisfactory butterfly touches. _

_The entity's fingertips wandered around his neck and ears, delightfully pulling shivers from Gaara's helpless body. The soft pads of skin wandered down to play with his sensitive collarbone and chest, only lightly brushing or twisting his dusky nipples, which were stiff with arousal. However, with the intention to slowly drive Gaara crazy, the hands drifted upwards again, this time sliding down his arms, slowly stroking Gaara's soft and sensitive wrists. _

_Holding back his shivers, the red head attempted to call out, to ask for more. But he found out, his throat was caught. He couldn't speak. Pant, gasp, and moan- yes. But not speak. It was a whole new level of torture. However, the entity spoke in a husky, demanding way. _

_"Aren't you a cute one? I bet you're just begging me on the inside to touch you, to stroke your skin with a firmness that you require to reach your height of pleasure. However, it is me that is in control, and I will play with your body as much or as little as I want. I could just leave you here, and not finish…" at this Gaara gasped, shaking his head desperately back and forth. No matter how torturous this was, he didn't want it to stop, "Ahh… good boy. That's what I thought." _

_Gaara submitted. He stretched his body out even more, laying his vulnerability for this incubus to do what he wills with it. All that Gaara wanted in return was to feel good. _

_The fingertips left his sensitive wrists and worked their way back up to his perky nipples, playing with them, pinching and twisting as he wished. Slowly, the fingertips moved farther down, and his palm made contact with Gaara's belly. He took his flat expanse of hand and slid it downwards, just above Gaara's red nest of curls. His other hand was busy stroking the boy's sides, making him writhe and squirm with pleasure. _

_Without warning, warm, wet, lips crashed down upon Gaara's own. Giving a slightly muffled cry of surprise, Gaara returned the kiss with vigor, letting the person invade his mouth with his tongue, licking everywhere, slowly stroking Gaara's tongue and lips. Sliding his tongue over Gaara's flat, smooth teeth, the person pressed his flat palm a little lower and a little harder, coming dangerously close to Gaara's throbbing shaft. Gaara let out a small cry of impatience, and arched his back, letting his stiffness rub roughly into the hands of his incubus. _

_"Aww… you were doing so well too… I suppose I'll have to leave if you're not going to cooperate." and with that, the entity's presence left. _

_dream END _

"Neji, stay!" Gaara's head popped off of his pillow, panting.

That… that dream was intense. Gaara looked down with heavy lidded eyes at the parting gift the dream had left him with. He sighed. However, before he had resigned his night to that of a uncomfortable one, his brother's voice had drifted into his mind, "_you could fix it _manually_…" _Gaara's face erupted into brightness. Looking around, he realized he was quite alone and the house was quiet. Not only did he miss dinner, it was well into the night. With Anko gone, Gaara was quite alone.

He looked down again at his rather large problem. With a halting, reluctant hand, he reached down slowly. He softly let his fingertips make contact with himself.

"Ahh…" Gaara gasped at the sensation. Getting more curiosity, he traced his finger to the tip, shivering. He gasped. He wanted to feel more. He began to softly rub the tip, up and down, causing his foreskin to bob up and down, exposing the gland beneath. Gaara trembled with pleasure, his eyes were at half lined and his curiosity was sparked. He slowly slid his fingertip in between his foreskin, and rotated gently, paying mind to his nails. His spine shuddered violently. That had felt good. Suddenly, the tip dribbled out some sticky, slick milky substance that caught Gaara's interest. He slid his finger out and tapped his tip softly, then began to rub the slit.

Gaara threw his head back in pleasure, letting out a heartfelt, yet muffled, moan. Visions of white eyes and long slender bodies filled his mind. After he had exposed the tip to these soft, delicious ministrations, he became bolder. He gripped his base firmly and began to stroke his shaft, up and down, finding a rhythm quickly. It wasn't smooth, his hands stilted with moisture, but that just added to the feeling. It made it more exciting, more real. Gaara panted as he quickened his pace, absentmindedly taking is other hand and pulling at a nipple violently, to match his frenzied strokes. He was softly gasping out a name, a very familiar name to him, as visions of this boy's body and face flashed through his memory. It didn't take much, and Gaara didn't last long.

"N-Neji!" He came with a cry, letting the white liquid splatter across his belly, chest, and even a little landed on his cheek. His hips bucked upward with short jerks in the aftermath of his orgasm.

Gaara sighed and fell back, totally relaxed and sated. He was wondering what the hell had come out of him. It looked like whipped cream, or yougert. After a moment his curiosity got the better of him and he lifted up his cum spattered hand to his face and licked the liquid lightly. Jerking his hand back from his face, his eyes widened in surprise. He liked it. Gaara leaned forward again to clean each individual finger. After his hand was clean, he slowly began to clean himself via his tongue, and soon, he was clean of any traces of pleasure.

He decided he liked his brother's method of fixing the problem better. And with that lingering thought, he pulled the covers over himself and fell asleep for the third time that day.

_**That morning…** _

"Gaaaaaaara-kuuuun! Dei-dei-chan made pancakes, yeah! Come and eat them! Come and eat them, yeah!" A very hyper blonde yelled, slamming Gaara's paper door open with glee. Something that cheerful should be illegal at seven in the morning. Waving the blonde away with a 'Sure… sure… give me a moment', Gaara sat up, his covers around his tightly. He didn't know if it was just him, but it was always ridiculously cold in the morning. He didn't want to leave the warmth of his bed. However, he didn't want that hyper blonde back in his room, he just might break something or say something stupid.

Sighing, he crawled under his covers towards the wardrobe, and opened it from his bed. Having the smallest room in the house had its perks. He knew he wanted to wear something warm, but he knew he would regret it once the day was in full swing and he had adjusted to the outside world's temperature. So he selected jeans and a bright, happy-color yellow tee shirt that said 'Go away. I'm in a bad mood." and a black tie with a bumble-bee in the corner at the bottom. Climbing into his colorful clothes underneath the covers as well, he stumbled out of his room and nearly killed himself on the puddle on the bath house floor.

Sliding open the living room door angrily, he stomped into the room and sat down at and empty seat, where three very tense people were sitting.

"Why are you guys so tense?" Gaara asked, playing with the silverware on the table.

"Deidara is _cooking_. He's almost as bad as you. Except he doesn't know his cooking is bad. And he'll throw a tantrum if we don't like it." Temari explained in a hushed tone. No sooner had her sentence finished, the kitchen door slid open to reveal a beaming Deidara holding a platter of… something. They were, black… charred, thingies. Gaara didn't really know what they were, but apparently he was expected to eat them because Deidara had merrily dropped two of the thingies on his plate.

"Pancakes are yummy! Pancakes are great! They feel good when they go in my tummy! Now eat them quick, or you'll be late, yeah!" Deidara sung merrily, placing the 'pancakes' (of death) on everyone's plate.

"Who let him into the kitchen?" Sasori drowsily asked, picking at his blocks of charred 'pancake'. Deidara playfully smacked his beloved on the back of the head and yelled "They are full of deliciousness, yeah!" Everyone at the table sighed and tried to eat the meal that was placed before them. Gaara could barely contain his laughter at some of the faces people were making.

"Gaara-kuuuuuun! Why don't you eat!? They are good for you, yeah!" Deidara said excitedly, stabbing the black thing and shoving it down Gaara's esophagus.

"Ack!" Gaara choked, desperately trying to breathe and turn off his taste buds at the same time. This was painful! His eyes were watering, he couldn't breathe, and he needed something to drink, and fast! Grabbing at the water in front of him, the redhead managed to force the vile piece of cooking down his raw throat.

"Ow…" he mumbled, rubbing his throat tenderly.

"Would you like another Gaara-kun!?" Deidara yelled in his ear, overjoyed that Gaara had eaten his 'cooking' (if you could call it that) so fast.

"Uhhh… no. I'm full already." Gaara lied swiftly. He didn't want to eat and more of that vile food than he had to. Deidara looked slightly put-out, but he son switched to harassing others. Deciding to be nice to his house members, Gaara spoke up.

"If we don't hurry, I'm going to be late for school; and you all are going to be late for university." All of the members of his family, minus Deidara, shot him grateful looks before they all started to rush around, getting ready and starting to walk out the door.

Gaara sighed with relief as he was dropped off at the front stairs to his school. However his happiness plummeted as soon as he saw Neji. Blushing heavily, he averted his eyes to Naruto, who was waving like a maniac.

What a day this is going to be…

* * *

Hahaha, Gaara smut for the win.  
Think of this as an apology for making you wait so damn long, AND changing some of the story, thus, making you skim everything over again once I post the new version.  
Sorry! 


	19. Sasuke's Interlude

I'm very very very sorry about the wait.  
But, I've been re-vamping this and its been taking longer than I thought.  
So, while you wait, here's Sasuke's Interlude!

I didn't send it to my beta because it was very, very short chapter, and had nothing to do with the plot, so I deemed that it wasn't nessicary.

* * *

Sasuke groaned. Not only were Neji and Gaara acting weird, but Naruto was too goddamn innocent. Sasuke watched as his love interest slowly lick his fingers, making them clean of any cream. Yes, it was lunchtime and Sasuke was slowly turning to jelly as Naruto ate an entire bucket of whipped cream. The clever boy had frozen it the night before and now he had a delicious treat for lunch. Sasuke cursed the boy's small bursts of cleverness and wished that Naruto could just be clueless all the damn time.

Naruto dipped his fingers into the bucket again and proceeded to lick his fingers in the most sensual way Sasuke thought possible. Each digit slowly disappeared into Naruto's childish grinning mouth, only to reappear clean and slick. Sasuke gulped. Why the hell did Naruto have to be so tempting all the time? It wasn't as if it was hard enough for Sasuke to resist his best friend.

"Dear god! Do you _have_ to do that!?" Sasuke snapped at his friend. Naruto looked up from his treat with puffed out cheeks in curiosity.

"Do what?" He asked, swallowing slowly. Sasuke gulped, looking at Naruto's throat move to accommodate the creamy food. It was _sooo_ sexy.

"Nothing. Never mind." Sasuke said, bitterly looking away from Naruto. He was left alone for a moment, but a very sticky, very persistent finger began prodding him in the side. Sasuke chose to ignore it. However it was very persistent.

"What?!" Sasuke turned to yell at his very annoying, very sticky friend. However, Sasuke's anger melted away at what he saw. The blonde boy had whipped cream smeared on his face and he was practically hiding behind the bucket, which was held out to Sasuke.

"You want some?" He squeaked out.

"Sure." Sasuke sighed.

"Holy Jesus on a pogo stick! You actually want some?" Naruto shrieked, before shoving the bucket into Sasuke's hands with a smile, Glad that he wanted to share with him. Sasuke raised an eyebrow, before dipping a finger elegantly into the bucket and retracting it. Naruto desperately wanted to point out that there was almost no difference in skin tone from the cream to Sasuke's skin, but he didn't want the shit knocked out of him. Sasuke was very touchy about his skin tone.

Sasuke ate two fingerfuls before shoving the bucket back at Naruto. He didn't like sweets, but he couldn't say no to Naruto's adorable, pleading face. How come he could never just say 'no' to Naruto? Why did Sasuke have to torture himself with endless sweets and bowls and ramen? Oh yea, he loved Naruto, that's why. Goddamn emotions.

He had a hunch that Naruto liked him as well, but that meant nothing. He really liked Naruto, and if it wasn't the case on Naruto's side of him liking Sasuke back, Sasuke didn't even want to take the risk. If he even said anything that the blonde didn't like, their friendship would become cracked, and awkward. He loved Naruto too much to let that happen.

Even if Naruto did like him back, what would other people say? It's not like he had a family to care about him 'upholding' the family name. The only family he had was Itachi, and he was as gay as they come, but there was still his friends and his fellow peers. He liked where he was on the social ladder, and he didn't want his status to change over his sexuality. Well, Sasuke supposed that he wasn't gay, but he really didn't like girls either. He just signed it off to being 'Narutosexual'. It was a word. Don't look at Sasuke like that.

Silliness aside, he didn't want to lose Naruto over something so stupid and selfish. He would rather talk to Naruto, have good times with him, rather than be ignored by the blonde because things were 'awkward' around them. Sometimes, Naruto would act like he liked Sasuke, and it would just seem so obvious to Sasuke that Naruto liked him back. However, it went both ways as well, sometimes Naruto seemed just so _normal_ and straight that Sasuke thought it to be a ridiculous concept that Naruto would like him back. It was so fucking confusing. On one hand, Sasuke wanted to shout out to the world that he loved Naruto with all of his heart, but the rational part of him told him that that would be a very stupid, very foolish idea.

Sasuke sighed. It was just too complicated. Sure, you may look at this and think, 'Oh my god it's so obvious!'. But what d you know? Sasuke was confused, he didn't knw what was in Naruto's mind. He was trying not to tempt himself. But it was so hard sometimes, he would occasionally catch himself staring at Naruto, and he would feel disgusted with himself right after. Who lusts after their friend and such a way. Sasuke felt like he was breaking some sort of truce by liking the blonde boy so much. Almost like it was a betrayal of his friendship to be thinking such weird thoughts about his best friend.

But then again, maybe Sasuke was just over analyzing himself. Maybe what he felt for Naruto was just deep friendship and he was just confusing it with love when it really wasn't. Sasuke felt a headache coming on. He had no idea how many times this train of thought had run through his mind. It was maddening. To have something so close to you that you want so bad, but not be able to act upon your strong feelings. And then the blonde had to go and innocently entice Sasuke with his childish antics that Sasuke found so adorable and funny-- not like he could show this, he just acted irritable whenever Naruto did something that pleased him.

Sasuke closed his eyes. His head was hurting.

"Sasuke-teme? Are you okay? You look like you're in pain." A soft voice sounded very close to Sasuke's ear. It was Naruto.

"I'm… I'm fine."

_No I'm not. You're slowly driving me insane._

_Why do you do this to me, Naruto?_

_Why?_

_

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_

Poor confused Sasuke.

I don't normally do this, but Reviews?  
Tell me about the chapter before this, I am quite curious to know how people liked the gaarasterbation.  
: D


	20. Author Speaks SNEAK PREVIEW

Alright so, people have been kinda giving me a hassle about updating my stories, so I'm making a large sneak preview of the next chapter, as well as adressing some issues that people have asked/told me about.

First off: It is never certain whether I'll have internet or not. I don't have a 'home' perse, but I move around my family at random intervals to spend the night and I go to school for the rest of my time and do odd jobs to sort of take care of myself. Most of my family doesn't have wireless hook-up, or a computer for that matter.

Second: At the time being, I've exhausted my funds on spending money on a lap top which was on sale and it's my baby. I did it for you guys, so I could write wherever I went. But now I don't have the time to write, because I'm constantly scrambling for resources. Of course I'm always welcome to mooch off of my family, but I'd feel bad if they had to support me completely.

Third: Please stop asking about when I'm going to update. I've already re-wrote chapters 7-Itachi's Interlude, which I have posted up. The following chapters that I'm going to re-write are 11-18, then I will post up the actual next chapter.

Fourth: I'm not only writing the stories JUST posted up here. I have eight some odd stories that I'm writing without posting them. I'm BUSY. Also, I have a Deviantart that I need to draw for and post as well, not to mention a youtube video account that I have to update as well. SO PLEASE BE PATIENT.

* * *

Sneak Preview:

* * *

"Gaara."

"Neji... I... I can't. I don't know what to do. Things are happening so fast it feels like I'm falling apart. I can't handle anything else new right now. I want you. Oh yes, I want you so bad, but I can't have you right now."

"Gaara, I can help you with those things. Let me in. Please. I want to help."

"I'm sorry!"

"Gaara! _Please_."

"Neji..."


	21. CANCELLED

Yes.

You've read the new story discription correctly.  
This story has been **cancelled**.  
However, I am looking for a nice, caring fanfiction writer to adopt this story and continue it to the end.

If you are interested in continuing this story, **Please PM me and I will take a look at your fanfiction work and notify you if you may continue this story for me**.  
Thank you so much for sticking with me this far in the Naruto fandom, it was a pleasant ride.


End file.
